Erosion
by JMaxwell
Summary: One-shot: Inuyasha wakes up in Kagome's bedroom after the final battle with Naraku, unable to remember how he got there. With the well sealed, he must make a life in the modern era as his past catches up with him.


Disclaimer: InuYasha is the intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi and various holding companies. There is no monetary gain from the publication of this work.

Author's notes: Manga spoilers for Chapters 500+. The fic is rated for a reason. A suikan is what many fics call a haori. Reposted to get it all in one chapter, like the one-shot it is.

**Erosion**

"Dammit," Inuyasha grumbled, glaring at the wall of flesh separating him and Kagome from their comrades. Pulling himself upright, his feet sank slightly into the pliant ground of Naraku's interior. "Kagome, which way is the jewel?" he asked, checking her over for injuries out of the corner of his eye.

"That way," she replied after a moment's hesitation, pointing down a long, pulsating corridor.

"Let's go!" he ordered, gently grasping her hand to guide her through the passageway. "Findin' the jewel will take less time than hookin' back up with Miroku and Sango." He walked in front of her as they made their way across the terrain, which was slick and squishy like wet moss. Other than their breathing and a slight squelching noise, the only sound Inuyasha could hear was the thump of three heartbeats: the quick flutter of the couple's racing hearts and the slow, steady pulse of the Shikon no Tama. As they drew nearer to their goal, the insistent throbbing filled his ears. His blood seemed to grow hotter, burning through his veins until he couldn't contain its heat any longer, and it boiled over. With a surge of _youki_, Inuyasha's vision descended into red.

**1**

'_Am I deaf?' _Inuyasha thought with panic. Surrounded by silence, he couldn't see anything but red that burned like the searing pain in his head. His blood had cooled, but his location remained a mystery. An experimental inhale brought him the strong scent of Kagome—not her blood, and not her tears. Just _her_. Only one place was this saturated in her scent. He blinked slowly, and the red caused by the sunlight slanting against his eyelids cleared. Instead, he saw the familiar paneled ceiling of Kagome's bedroom. He lay on her bed, surrounded by a haphazard mound of blankets, and Kagome was asleep with her head on her desk. With a pained noise, Inuyasha sat upright and tried to shake the sudden sense of vertigo. A brief appraisal revealed no injuries or bandages, just a splitting headache and a touch of queasiness. Rubbing his temple brought an involuntary groan, which was enough to startle Kagome into consciousness.

She followed much the same waking procedure, looking around with bleary eyes before her gaze settled on Inuyasha, and she sighed in relief. Showing no confusion over their situation, she threw herself into his arms so unexpectedly, he couldn't brace himself and fell backwards onto the mattress.

"I was so worried about you," she cried, burying her face in his chest while he lay there, stunned. His eyes drifted down, noting a small, white streak that ran horizontally along her right arm, and he closed them to replay a brief flash of memory. There had been an overwhelming desire to kill Kagome warring against his desire to protect her. He'd failed. Though he'd managed to hold back, the wound he'd given her had been deep. Inuyasha gulped back bile as he recalled chasing her off a cliff, and the sight of her face as she fell haunted him. Another memory surfaced, this time of catching her as she fell from Magatsuhi's grip. This latter recollection soothed him somewhat, but he was so confused.

Reaching out, he carefully touched the scar on her arm, brushing the back of one claw over it. He traced the line with the pad of one finger and, moved by feelings he couldn't understand, wrapped his arms around Kagome and returned her embrace, holding her silently. They stayed like that, rocking back and forth, until Inuyasha finally found his voice.

"Kagome…what happened?" The question came out in a deeper, quieter timbre—the one reserved for the serious moments of their friendship.

"What do mean, Inuyasha?" He didn't reply, so she hazarded a guess. "You mean the scar on my arm? It's fine. You were protecting me."

He shook his head. "No…what am I doing here?" His words held none of his usual bravado or gruffness, just an odd combination of befuddlement and gratefulness. He slumped tiredly so that his forehead rested on her shoulder.

Another moment ticked by before she responded. "You don't remember?" His ears rubbed against her cheek as he shook his head, and she jerked slightly at the tickling sensation. "You were so exhausted, I nearly had to drag you, but we made it back together. Later, when I tried to go get my backpack, the well was sealed," she explained. Her voice dropped nervously. "We're here for good." Once again, silence was her response, so she continued with urgency. "You don't have to worry about a thing. You're welcome at the shrine. Mama loves you. Souta idolizes you. I think even gra…"

Her words trailed off as he pulled away from her, gripping her shoulders and looking her into her eyes. "No…I don't remember much after we entered Naraku. I can picture doing…" he eyed the scar again, the gears in his head turning as he noticed how much it had healed, "that. How long did I sleep? What happened?"

Kagome stared at him in shock, seemingly unsure how to respond to his lack of knowledge. "Uh, we won. We beat Naraku and destroyed the jewel. Everyone's alive…well, at least they were alive when we left," she explained, melancholy seeping into her voice. "You were asleep for almost a week, but that's okay, now that you're safe and awake. _We're_ safe."

Oddly, the emphasis on his safety caused a cold tightness in his chest. "Safe," he mouthed, before embracing her once again. He held her tightly for a moment before asking, "And the jewel?"

"Gone with Naraku."

Inuyasha had more questions, but the dizziness and fatigue were too much, and he slumped back onto the bed, too tired to concern himself with the fact Kagome was laying across his chest. Nothing more was said, and they stayed like that for what seemed like hours as the sick feeling faded, never relinquishing their grip on each other. Finally, they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

**2**

Inuyasha's nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath, sampling the warm, spring air. _'Y'know? The stink here ain't bad once ya get used to it.'_ The scents of pollution and human waste, a constant presence, had receded to the back of his mind, and his perception had shifted to focus on the things that changed. The hubbub of human activity had become a soothing white noise, barely noticeable outside the occasional siren or low-flying jet. He set the pair of boxes in his arms against the side of the house and turned back towards the shed, his noise wrinkling in anticipation of the dust. _'I clean that damn shed over and over again for the old man. Where the fuck does he find all that crap?'_

The only thing worse than sirens was the old man's apprehensive shrieking when he held something precious in his clawed hands. Other than that small annoyance, Kagome's family was quite…tolerable. He looked upon the patience of Kagome's mother with well-disguised awe, and Souta's reverence was largely responsible for the runt not becoming too much of an irritant. The hanyou's lips curled downward as he considered this last, his mind turning toward those they'd left behind. _'I wonder how the kit is doing. Probably making sure Miroku really does have the patience of a saint.' _He refused to consider the possibility that any of them were living anything less than happy, fulfilled lives. If they were able to survive Naraku, none of the residual threats of that era should be able to touch them.

Granted, it was still more dangerous than this time. If Inuyasha had any nemesis here, it was the clock. He paused in his walk back to the shed to glare at it through the open kitchen window and, almost on cue, his view was obscured by the sympathetic countenance of Kagome's mother.

"Just another hour, Inuyasha, and Kagome will be back from school."

"I don't care when Kagome gets back. I just want to know when I get to eat." Crossing his arms in a mock huff, he stared off to the side to avoid her gaze even as he inwardly cursed himself for keeping up the act. _'I'm trapped here for good. Ain't doing myself any favors if I get kicked out._' A furry ear twitched when the older woman chuckled, but his expression softened at the reassurance that he'd done himself no harm. Inuyasha started back towards the shed, but hesitated, then turned to watch the second hand's slow, endless revolution around the clock face. _'I've been here…months?' _He remembered waking up with Kagome and their reunion, but everything since was kind of a blur. In fact, he didn't even think he'd left the shrine once. He typically slept on the floor of Kagome's room and occasionally napped on her bed when she wasn't there, but otherwise, he really couldn't even think of how he'd filled the days. Kagome studied a lot, and he helped around the shrine. Sometimes, her annoying kid brother would play ball with him, and he would tease the cat. All-in-all, he supposed it was a peaceful existence.

Grandpa shuffled around the corner, "Demon! Have you cleared the shed?"

Wincing as his ears flattened against his head, the hanyou growled before responding, "Yeah, I cleared the shed, you useless old man."

Dignity hurt, Grandpa sputtered, but his impending elderly rant was thwarted by a whiff of Kagome's scent on the breeze. Before the shrinekeeper could say a word, Inuyasha sprang through the back door into the kitchen and toward the front door to intercept her.

"I'm back!" rang out through the house as she entered, and Kagome narrowly avoided hitting Inuyasha with her bag as she tossed it onto the couch. She didn't even glance his way as she blew right by him, heading for the kitchen. "I'm starving!"

"Help me set the table, dear. Dinner is almost ready." Kagome's mother was completely unruffled as she shifted seamlessly into family management. "Inuyasha, please get Souta." Plates clanked as the he feigned annoyance at being dispatched to pry Kagome's little brother away from his video games, but a sense of belonging bloomed in his chest at being included in their evening rituals.

Reaching Souta's room, Inuyasha didn't even bother to knock. "Hey, runt, you're stopping me from eatin'. Come down for dinner." Unfazed by the grouching, Souta stayed focused on the television as if it were a matter of life or death. Curious about what transfixed the boy, Inuyasha glanced at the screen but with a loud _blip_, the monitor turned black. Souta threw his controller down in disgust, but his irritation subsided when he caught the surprised expression on Inuyasha's face.

"The game was unfair." The boy's normally cheerful voice dripped with annoyance.

Inuyasha gathered his bearings and hid his confusion behind teasing. "I was just surprised at how bad you are." He rolled his eyes when the kid bristled. "I ain't gonna let you make me wait for my food, so c'mon." The boy opened his mouth to protest, but Inuyasha simply scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder, carting him bodily from the room and down the stairs. At least the hero worship was good for something; Souta didn't complain as Inuyasha deposited him neatly in his chair.

Mrs. Higurashi guided him to a seat while Kagome finished setting out the myriad condiments. Finally, Mama brought in the food, setting down a juicy, rare steak for Inuyasha, who immediately tore into it with gusto. They talked about the day—what Kagome was doing in school and about work around the shrine. It was the kind of light family discussion that Inuyasha had always wanted; he even let himself join in occasionally.

He was so pleased with being included that when Souta asked him to play video games with him after dinner, Inuyasha agreed without thought. He realized his mistake in accepting a moment later, but Kagome's sunny smile made it seem like not such a bad idea. Inuyasha was happy. That evening, he fell asleep with no hint of stress on his face.

**3**

Inuyasha signaled his displeasure at being awakened with a low groan, and twitched his tickled ear in disgust, keeping his eyes closed as he mumbled a particularly articulate, "Mumphomwama." Shaking his head just caused the sensation to travel into his ear, crawling like an insect. He quickly moved his hand to his ear to pluck out the offending creature and held it up in front of one opened eye. The eight legs of an angry spider grappled with the air right in front of his face, twisting to find purchase. He shuddered at the sight and flicked it away in disgust as he took in his surroundings.

He was propped against Goshinboku's trunk, and the back of his neck chafed uncomfortably against the bark. A canopy of leaves blocked the sunlight, creating a strange pattern of shadows over him and the unconscious girl in his lap. Moving so her weight was more conveniently placed, he blinked the remaining tiredness from his eyes and looked over her sleeping form. He couldn't help but grin at the sight of Kagome, her fallen textbook splayed in the dirt beside her. Noticing it lay precariously close to a small puddle, he picked it up and, lifting his arms above her sleeping body, flipped through the pages until his eyes nearly crossed. He still couldn't understand any of the weird symbols; they just blurred together.

Inuyasha sighed and looked around the shrine. The cool breeze caused the leaves to rustle and gave the air just enough bite to make him grateful for Kagome's body heat, but not so much that he wanted to move. His ears twitched as he focused on distant sounds—human activity, birds chirping, and the occasional splash of a fish in the nearby pond. He yawned, his long tongue curling over fangs, and caught a movement in his peripheral vision. Glancing over at the small fishpond, he met the beady eyes of a crane and held its gaze for a few moments, curious as to why the bird found him so fascinating. He flexed a clawed hand in a lazy warning, and his avian observer took the hint, flying away with great sweeping motions of its wings.

For just a moment, Inuyasha's perceptions veered out of sync with reality, and an overwhelming weight seemed to press against him from every side. Time slowed and bent, and a pang of grief shot through his stomach; in the darkness, he despaired that everything could come to such a lonely and ignoble end. Then, Kagome shifted, driving her elbow between his legs with a painful jab, and the world snapped back into focus with shocking colors and clarity. Grimacing as the sharpness of his initial agony receded into throbbing misery, he dumped Kagome onto the ground, scuttling backwards out of range.

She quickly picked herself up, angered by the rude awakening. "What was that for, Inuyasha?" she demanded.

He nearly drowned out her words with his simultaneous shout. "Are you trying to make sure we never have children, wench?"

Both of them colored as they sorted out their statements, and Kagome looked away as Inuyasha stammered to change the subject. They didn't flee from each other's presence, and after a few moments they resettled into companionable silence.

He sat and reflected on the things he could remember. Being unsealed from the tree was still there, and the entire journey to reassemble the jewel and defeat Naraku, but everything surrounding the actual battle was still vague. He opened his mouth to ask Kagome about it, but realized from the speed of her heartbeat and the rhythm of her breathing that she'd fallen asleep once again. Idly, he ran his claws through her hair a few times before pausing to examine his fingers. Many of his elongated nails were dulled and torn, and with a look of disgust, he used his thumbclaws to shave the ragged edges back into shape, and then sharpened the thumbs against his fangs. He gave the digits one last offended glance before gathering Kagome more closely and drifting back into his dreams.

**4**

Feet pounded down the stairs before Kagome poked her head into the living room, dark save for the ambient glow of the television. "Inuyasha? What do you want for dinner?" she asked.

"What I _always_ want, stupid," Inuyasha called out, not bothering to glance away from the grotesque scene playing out in front of him.

"Don't say it," Kagome warned. "I was hoping tocook for you tonight. You know, make something _real_? Instant ramen doesn't count." When Inuyasha didn't answer, she looked over his shoulder to focus on the screen and grimaced. "Though I don't know how you can eat anything after watching that."

Snorting in response, Inuyasha gestured with a talon toward a man on the screen who was having his teeth forcibly extracted. "I'm not weak enough to end up like that," he boasted, puffing his chest. The flickering light of the television created wavering shapes on the walls, and when he turned toward her, the shadow of his claws fell across her neck. The image unsettled him, and he dropped his arm with a shudder.

Kagome rolled her eyes at his bravado. "Whatever, Inuyasha. So what's it going to be?"

"Ramen," he replied matter-of-factly.

The high-pitched growl that usually prefaced a 'sit' could be heard in her voice, but it died away when Kagome noticed that Inuyasha's shoulders were shaking with laughter. Realizing he was teasing her, she relaxed and grinned. Cheered by his joke, she played along, pretending to frown. "Fine. I gave you a chance. Now you'll just have to eat whatever I make." With an exaggerated huff, she strode towards the kitchen, nose in the air.

"No curry," he hollered after her.

"No promises," she volleyed back.

Inuyasha's attention returned to the screen, though his mind was occupied with thoughts of dinner. '_She's gonna spice it up just to get me back. I'll need a lot of water... Oh shit, water. She's gonna use the sink!'_

Bolting from his chair, he raced into the kitchen, only to find Kagome calmly washing her hands. To his relief, everything seemed normal. She caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye. "I told you that I'm going to surprise you, so get out of here," she said, making a shooing motion.

No sooner had Inuyasha turned to oblige her, when the sink erupted into a fountain of water, spraying everyone and everything in the room. Kagome choked and gasped as she reached blindly for the faucets to turn off the stream, but the drenching continued.

She swept wet hair out of her eyes, and spotted the guilty expression on his frozen face. Following his gaze, she spotted an unidentifiable lump of some chewed up substance that had popped out of the spigot and was now sitting on the edge of the sink. In an instant, she understood, and her look morphed from confusion to outrage. For a moment, she focused on setting him on fire with her mind. "Inuyashaaa," she shrieked , tones rising into "imminent strike" range.

With no other option left to him, and seeing how adorable she looked when wet and angry, Inuyasha did the only thing he could do. He lunged for her and covered her lips with his own.

Kagome pulled away with a look of shock, forgetting about the water droplets that continued to rain down around them. "Wha...what was that?"

"I just wanted to shut you up," Inuyasha replied with reddening cheeks. "That was…the first thing that came to mind." He glared defensively and muttered, "It was the easiest thing to do."

Rather than being horrified, Kagome giggled, "The _easiest_ way would have been to just put your hand over my mouth. I can't believe you kissed me."

Inuyasha folded his arms over his now dripping chest, but couldn't conjure up his usual annoyed expression. Still laughing, Kagome finally choked out, "Well, if _that's_ all I have to do…." Giving him a stern look, she said, "Inuyashaaaa." Once again, her voice traveled up in a warning glissando, though it contained a great deal of good humor. InuYasha gaped in disbelief, then confusion when she drew out the last note of his name for a long period of time. Finally realizing what she wanted, relief washed through him and he grinned. Then, he stepped forward and kissed her heart swelled with happiness as their lips met for the second time.

He was so distracted by joy that he didn't hear Souta enter the room at the usual full-out sprint. He might never have realized the boy was there if Souta hadn't slipped on the wet flooring and careened into the couple. Souta hit the back of Inuyasha's knees, and all three of them went down in a bedraggled heap on the kitchen tile.

The clean-up took hours.

**5**

Work at the Higurashi Shrine was endlessly tedious. Lift box. Ignore old man. Walk box to new location. Ignore old man. Set down box. Wait for old man to yell about box being put in wrong place. Move box. Repeat.

'_That shed is never empty. The coot always seems to dig up new crap, and it's always the most valuable treasures of Japan.' _Inuyasha glared through the doorway of the musty structure. _'Priceless? As far as I can see, all this shit is worthless' _

"What are you lazing around for, demon? Get moving!" Grandpa ranted, startling a couple and their young child who'd stopped to buy trinkets from his courtyard table. Inuyasha grunted, muttering under his breath as he moved yet another box toward another shed across the grounds, sparing a glance at his time-keeping archnemesis as he passed the kitchen window.

Returning his gaze forward, he barely avoided running into Kagome's mother, who materialized in front of him, holding a tall glass of water and gracing him with one of her warm smiles. "You've been working so hard for all of us today. Why don't you take a break?"

The desire to protect his dignity by insisting he didn't need a break warred briefly with his desire to escape from the boredom of box moving, and her winning smile sealed the victory for procrastination. Setting down the box, he took the welcome refreshment from her, claws clinking against the surface as he did so. She winked and returned to the house, saying, "Kagome should be back before too long," in her knowing, sing-song voice.

The old man shuffled around the corner, glaring at the box sitting on the ground before yelling in what Inuyasha had come to consider the _geezer voice_. "What are you doing, youkai? These boxes contain priceless artifacts, and we can't have you setting them down wherever you want just because you're lazy!"

He shrieked some more until Inuyasha finally rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful with your crap. Nothing's going to happen to it sitting there. "

Grandpa threw his arms up in despair, and stomped off as fast as he was capable, grumbling about disrespectful youth. Finishing the water, Inuyasha set the glass on the ground and looked up just in time to see a soccer ball careen into the side of the box and hear the dull tinkling of broken pottery.

Inuyasha's horrified gaze met Souta's sheepish one, and the hanyou had to admit that the kid could run; he vanished around the corner an instant before the old man returned with an ofuda. Seeing the crumpled box, he screamed in outrage, amping up the _geezer voice_ into full _geezer bellow_.

"That was an irreplaceable treasure you feckless blunderer. I never should have entrusted a holy object, one that has been in the Higurashi family for generations, to a foul demon. That's why you broke it, isn't it?" Grandpa cried. "You won't get away with this." To accentuate his point, he reached up and slapped the strip of paper onto the hanyou. Accustomed to the old man's ravings, Inuyasha didn't even flinch. This was mistake, as a crackle of energy came from the kanji, and the paper glowed blue, burning with searing heat. Inuyasha dropped to his knees in pain, clawing at his forehead until he finally removed it, singing his fingers in the process. "Hrmph. Serves you right, demon," the old man said through his weeping. "Now maybe you'll be more respectful." He stalked off, leaving a speechless Inuyasha, who now suffered from a splitting headache. Trying to collect himself, he staggered a few paces, but fell back to his knees just as Kagome came up the last few steps and spotted him.

"Inuyasha? Inuyasha! What happened?" the girl cried as she dropped her bag and ran to his side.

"The old fart slapped an ofuda on me," replied the hanyou irritably.

"What did you do?" Kagome gasped.

"I didn't do nothin'. The runt kicked his ball into one of his priceless artifacts." Inuyasha punctuated the last with particular sarcasm. "But I got blamed for it."

"The ofuda worked?" Kagome's voice sounded skeptical

"No, Kagome, I fell down for fun," the hanyou retorted. At her worried look, his voice softened. "Yeah, the old man finally got it right."

"How were you able to get it off?" she asked, disbelief still apparent on her face.

"Well, it hurt less when I remembered he can't do that, and I pulled it off." Inuyasha held up his burnt hand for her perusal, and she ran her fingers over them, watching the skin slowly return itself to its normal color as the blisters faded.

"Are you okay?"

Inuyasha just nodded, pulling his hand from her grip and walking over to pick up her bag from where she had dropped it. "It's gonna take more than a piece of paper from that decrepit old bastard to get to me. I'll know it's coming next time. Can we eat now?"

She grinned at his bravado. "All right, let's go."

A few minutes later, people blocks away could hear her tirade as she made sure her grandfather would never try that again.

**6**

Inuyasha's inner monologue was insistent. _'Say something. Say something. Make her stop crying.'_ The gears of his mind spun frantically as he attempted to come up with something to calm her down.

"At least he gets to hang around all the people whose crap he's been collecting."

Kagome looked at him with a watery smile. _'It worked! She's stopped…fuck!'_ Before a moment had passed, her face was buried back in his suikan as she continued to sob. '_My clothes already smell like that flowery crap…now they're gonna smell like tears, too.' _He sighed in resignation and awkwardly patted her back. An ear twitched as he focused briefly on the sniffling that could be heard from two other sections of the house, and he thanked whatever gods there were that she was having her breakdown in the privacy of her room.

He cast a longing glance out the window and cursed the fact that they were in the midst of a summer thunderstorm. The rain was coming down almost horizontally, thrashing the glass and washing out the view, making the day miserable enough without the grief that had settled over the household. "I never really expected him to die." No human could have understood the quiet words whispered directly into his shoulder, but InuYasha could, and he clasped her to him tightly. "I knew he was getting old, but I didn't think we'd all wake up, and he just…wouldn't."

Inuyasha closed his eyes and drew in a breath, hoping he'd say the right thing. "The old man knew you loved him. He went peacefully, surrounded by his family." He looked away, and his voice became wistful. "I don't know many people so lucky."

Kagome nodded quietly, her breathing whistling through her clogged airways. She withdrew slightly to stare at Inuyasha's fire-rat in a way he found alarming. Shifting them both backwards slightly, he ripped a sheet of paper from her math book and handed it to her. She actually graced him with an amused smile before snorting into it, and tossing it in the wicker bin next to her bed.

"There were a lot of things I wanted to tell him," she said more steadily, the shudder disappearing from her from his grasp, she crawled across her bed, rumpling the sheets as she moved to lean against the wall. Inuyasha sat beside her, a pensive expression on his face.

'_She always wants me to talk about the shit that's bugging me. Maybe it'll work on her.' _His mind flashed to a memory of Miroku advising him to always ask questions and seem interested. He'd put on a good show of dismissing the suggestion, but he retained things more than his friends gave him credit for.

"Whaddya want to tell him?" Inuyasha asked quietly. He pulled one leg up and wrapped his arms around the knee.

"Well, that I loved him." Her voice shook again as her tenuous emotional control slipped. He nodded at her to continue. "That he wasn't just a wonderful grandfather, but a great dad. He always made me laugh and put his reputation on the line for me without a second thought." Her expression grew wistful and her eyes brimmed with tears. "I wanted my appreciation to be the last thing he heard from me. Instead, it was, 'That's gross. I'm going to bed.'" She stared at the window, the rain still pouring against it in sheets.

Inuyasha was deep in thought himself. _'I don't remember the last thing I said to my mother. She knew I loved her, right?' _Some of his own guilt bubbled to the surface, and he pushed it down as best he could. _'Hell, both of us can't be weak.' _Glancing towards the corner of the room and his own source of strength, the Tessaiga, he thought about his own father. He drew a deep breath before looking at her from the corner of his eye. "He knew all that stuff. The old goat was annoying, but not stupid. Even if he didn't, he heard you say it now." He pointed one claw at the sheathed sword. "The people you love can look after you even when they're gone."

He mentally sighed in relief when he saw her surprised and grateful expression. She almost seemed…impressed with him, though her voice was still grave. "You're right. Thank you." She paused before continuing. "Still, you should…you should always tell people how you feel about them, because you never know when you'll get another chance."

Cynical reflexes working as well as ever, Inuyasha rolled his eyes in an attempt to flush all his hard work pacifying Kagome. "Feh, that's what everyone always says right after…." His voice trailed off because she was staring right at him, unflinching. He felt a shiver run up his body and wondered if this was how he'd looked at her the time she'd freaked out about him and Kikyou. Kagome seemed like she had something important to say, but remained silent. It hung between them for a while, until he finally scowled and broke the tension. "What're you starin' at?"

She opened her mouth, closed it again, and stammered before deciding that her ankles were suddenly of far more interest than him. Now curious, the hanyou twisted his body toward her and leaned in, far less cautious about getting close to her after the incident with the faucet. "Well, what?"

Her struggle for a response played visibly across her face. "Did you even like grandpa?"

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at the odd turn of the conversation. "Yeah, he was okay. We didn't get along that well, but that's just how he was. I know he didn't mean any harm or nothing."

"So you don't feel a great sense of loss now that he's gone?" She reached down and picked at her socks, removing them as she continued not to look in his direction.

"Well…I feel bad that you're upset, and he gave me something to do…but I'll get by."

She sighed, turning her head to face him. "It may not hurt much now, but I'm worried…no, I'm terrified about leaving you alone. I'm going to get older, and you're going to stay the same, and one day I may just go to sleep and not wake up, and I don't know what you're going to do…"

Inuyasha grabbed her arm and drew her into his lap for an awkward hug, cutting her rambling short. "You're not gonna leave me alone, wench. You'll be around here forever." She made a noise of protest, so he gently pulled her back where he could look her in the eyes. "I'm part demon, and there's no way I'm going to let you go. There's a way we can be together forever, and I'll find it."

She curled into his embrace, and he relaxed as her breathing slowed down and lost the hitching that had accompanied her crying. Neither slept. She stared at the picture of her family on the wall over his shoulder, and he at the grey window as the rain continued to beat upon it. Their thoughts were focused on the uncertainties of the future, but they were both certain that, as long as they were together, happiness was possible.

**7**

Another piece of notepaper launched off of her desk and fluttered across the room; Kagome rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Without looking up, she exasperatedly asked, "Do we have to keep the window open, Inuyasha?

The hanyou cracked one eye from where he lay on her bed, arms behind his head and one leg thrown over the other. "It's a nice day," he said. His tone indicated that he thought she was nuts for not noticing that fact.

She turned to glare at him and sputtered as she got a mouthful of fluttering curtain. She pushed it out of her face. "Then why don't you go _outside_?"

He responded by closing his eyes and wriggling deeper into the comforter. Kagome sucked in a breath to start yelling at him, but got distracted when Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head, and he cringed as hard as she'd ever seen him.

"Inuyasha? What's gotten into you?" she asked. Faint voices in the distance answered her.

"Kagome!"

"Kagome, are you here?"

Inuyasha saw the sudden tension in her shoulders and heard her dejected sigh, and he was comforted by the fact that she obviously wasn't so keen on seeing them, either. '_Maybe with a little encouragement, she'll do the right thing and everyone wins.' _

"Make them leave," he said.

Her response was to chuck a headband at him and examine her face in the mirror. "I can't. They're my friends, and I need to do _something_ with them. C'mon down and socialize."

"Pass." He flinched each time the girl's squealing entered frequencies that only he could hear, but didn't move otherwise.

Kagome shrugged, "All right. I'll be back in awhile."

He listened to her walk down the stairs and out the door, ears perked up to eavesdrop when the conversation began outside. '_Nothing better to do.'_

"So, Kagome, have you finished studying for the test?" Shrill Girl said.

"Yeah, I hear it's going to be pretty tough," chimed in Grating Girl.

"Oh, yeah, I've been studying." Kagome replied. Inuyasha grunted in agreement—she'd been doing schoolwork almost nonstop since they returned to this time. "I'll be ready for it."

"That's great. We haven't seen you much. You should come out with us on a group date." Ah, who could forget Screeching Hellhound Girl?

Kagome giggled nervously. "A group date? I don't know if that's such a good idea. I have a lot to do around the shrine, and I'm still sick a lot." She coughed a couple of times for emphasis. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and sat up to look out the window. Who did she think she would fool with that pathetic act?

"That cough sounds terrible, Kagome. Are you cleansing your system with the herbal remedies I brought you? Once it clears up, you can come to the movies with me."

'_That's not a woman's voice. Who the fuck is that?' _

"Err….Houjou, that's really nice of you. But, uh, you see…like I told Ayumi, there's a lot of stuff I need to do, and there's nothing I want to see."

InuYasha couldn't detect even a trace of regret in her voice, but the boy seemed oblivious. He refused to be deterred. Kagome tried unsuccessfully to avoid getting her hands clasped between Houjou's.

"There's this great foreign romance playing. You've missed a lot of our previous dates, but now that you're healthy, you need to come out with me." His eyes sparkled with genuine affection, but before she could focus on it too much, Houjou found his face held against the wall by a clawed hand.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing?" Kagome frantically said, while the other girls screamed unintelligible nonsense.

"What? Are you telling me you want this guy's hands all over you?" he grumped, not moving his arm. Houjou gurgled something in response, and the girls continued to prance around like lemmings on a sugar high.

"I'm not going out with him, so put him down." Kagome's voice had that tremolo that formed when her patience was nearly at an end, so Inuyasha set him on his feet, and was unsurprised by the look of rage on the boy's face**.** _'Kagome never sees this coming.'_ Houjou pulled at the bottom of his shirt to straighten it, and tilted his chin imperiously.

"I'll have you know that Kagome loves me, and I think it would be best if you acknowledged and remembered that." With an intensity that was almost familiar, he grabbed at Kagome once again.

She gasped and squirmed out of his grasp. "What are you thinking, Houjou? I don't love you. I don't even want to go out with you." Horrified, she stepped away from him. "I think you need to go."

"Why would you want to debase yourself by being with this half-breed mongrel?" Houjou retorted angrily, reaching for her again, but InuYasha caught at his shoulder, dragging him backward, away from Kagome. Houjou whirled, furious, and drove his fist into Inuyasha's face. The hanyou's head snapped back and he stumbled...a whole two inches. "What have you done to my woman, mutt?"

Houjou brought up his fist to strike again, but found himself meeting the business end of Inuyasha's knuckles. Even though the punch was obviously pulled, the boy fell, grabbing onto a nearby railing to stay on his feet. He touched his fingers to the red stripes left by the hanyou's claws and glowered when they came away wet with blood. "This is what I'm saying. That's an uncouth beast, Kagome. Are you sure you want to be with someone so dangerous? So uncivilized?" Kagome's friends glared and nodded along with him, backing warily away from Inuyasha as if he might try to strike them down at any moment.

Inuyasha's chest constricted as he absorbed their words. '_I can't get away from this, even in Kagome's time.' _He saw how Kagome was shaking with rage, her red face downcast, and he braced himself to be sat through the ground. Kagome narrowed her eyes at Houjou, and glanced over at Inuyasha.

"Remember what Kouga used to always say when he'd leave, Inuyasha?" He looked at her blankly, but she didn't wait for his response. "Take care of Houjou for me, Inuyasha."

He wasted no time.

**8**

To his annoyance, Inuyasha woke to find it was still nighttime. '_Not sleeping much used to help keep me alive. Now it's gonna kill me with boredom.' _There weren't many ways to pass the remaining hours before the family finally awakened. Taking advantage of one favorite pastime, he rose from his cross-legged position next to Kagome's bed so he could quietly watch the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest. Smiling at the sight, he couldn't resist the temptation to reach out and lightly run his hand across her hair. She'd grown since they'd returned through the well and was much more a woman than a girl.

'_What's it gonna take to keep her with me?'_ Determination hardened the hanyou's features. Inuyasha doubted that any youkai, his father included, would suffer through the pain of binding themselves to a human, only to lose them after so little time. For a moment, his inner monologue warred with itself. _'Wouldn't it be worth it though, even for that time? No, there's gotta be a way to do this.' _Rolling the problem over in his mind brought no immediate answers, and to his chagrin, only resulted in a stronger sensation of dread.

A rumbling growl broke his increasingly morose brooding, and he realized he couldn't remember when he'd eaten last. _'Maybe there's some food in that cooling box,' _he reasoned, and he stood to make his way through the darkened interior of the house.

He managed to keep the bedroom door from squeaking, and years of tracking prey and avoiding predators kept his footfalls silent in the hallway. It was next to impossible to see in the blackness, even though his pupils dilated to catch every photon of light. Confused by his lack of clear vision, Inuyasha was caught completely off-guard by the warm, fuzzy, and suddenly angry object he struck with his foot. Stumbling forward with a curse, he felt a sharp pain in his ankle accompanied by a highly affronted hiss. Inuyasha froze and remained motionless for a moment, listening to the cat flee down the stairs to a safer venue. Hearing no other noise, and comforted that his slip-up hadn't woken anyone else, he proceeded carefully down the stairs and into the kitchen.

The room was a virtual cacophony of sounds thanks to his superior hearing. The hum of the refrigerator, the ticking of the clock, and the sound of his own feet making a sticky peeling noise against the floor left him wary that someone would wake up at any moment. Opening the refrigerator door, Inuyasha was nearly blinded by the light, and he looked down to let his vision adjust. To his irritation, he found three red streaks on his ankle. Propping the door open with his knee, he examined the small wound more closely and realized the scratches were from Buyo's claws. He grunted in approval as he watched the skin knit itself back together.

'_Heh. Fat old bastard got a good lick in this time. He'll dance for me tomorrow,_' thought the hanyou smugly. Ignoring the droplets of blood he'd left on the floor, he began a careful analysis of the refrigerator's contents with adjusted eyes. He spied a package of steak, and gleefully tore into it with his claws, attempting to shred the raw meat into strips, grumbling over the number of tries it took. _'Damn modern meat is tough.' _

He finished gulping down the chunks and let out a small belch, but his satiation was offset by the realization of what a mess he'd made. In addition to the destroyed wrapping, there was a puddle of blood on the floor, most of it from the steak, and both his hands were stained red. Fighting down a sense of cold unease at the sight, he quickly used the sleeve of the suikan to wipe up the pool of blood and clean himself. He let the refrigerator door close, and felt around for the wrapping. After another moment of readjusting to the darkness, he recognized the outline of the bin the family used for their debris and tossed the packaging in it. Making his way to the sink, he turned on the faucet and drank sideways from the stream of water.

Satisfied, Inuyasha sat at the low kitchen table, staring out the window as he patiently waited for the rest of the family to wake up. He yawned and licked some of the remaining food from around his mouth. Leaning back against the wall, he considered his life with Kagome and felt warmer inside as he imagined being able to spend an eternity with her by his side, never aging and always together. He barely noticed his increasing fatigue as he contemplated a hopeful future, and he finally passed out on one of the floor cushions, his daydreams becoming real dreams.

**9**

Staring out the frost-rimmed bedroom window, Inuyasha winced when several icicles high in the tree outside shattered on the branch where he often perched. The slight movement caused Kagome's hair to brush his neck from where she was tucked underneath his chin. Neither of them said anything as he watched the snow swirl in the stiff wind, and she read one of her textbooks. Another of Kagome's tests was approaching, and she'd been using him as a backrest for over an hour, much to his annoyance. He didn't typically mind such closeness, but he wanted to get out of the house and enjoy the weather; there was something about winter Inuyasha appreciated more than any other season. The air smelled cleaner, though he'd grown used to the pollution, and the peace outdoors was a balm to his spirit.

Kagome finally shut the book and set it to the side, and he felt hope grow…only to have it die when she reached for another one. Sweeping it out of her grasp, he pitched it across the room, where it thudded against the far wall. He flattened his ears against his head and braced for imminent yelling.

"What was that for, Inuyasha?" She squirmed out of his grasp to turn and face him.

"You've been reading those books all day. It's boring just sitting here."

"So go away and do something else, then. You don't have to stay here with me," she retorted.

His eyes narrowed at her comment. "Well, I'm kinda trapped here with you."

Kagome stood up, advancing to her 'one hand on hip, other hand pointing' expression. "Is that how you feel about being here with me?" she growled.

"Kinda hard not too when you're being so cold!" he snapped, his eyes glued with stubborn fascination to the wall.

A squeak of indignation escaped her lips, and there was a pregnant pause until she finally said, voice low, "Really?" There was a clicking noise and a creak, immediately followed by a gust of frozen air. Inuyasha turned his head back to the window, only to have his face met by a handful of snow Kagome had gathered from the sill and launched his way. "How's that for cold?" she demanded with a challenging smirk.

Grinning ferally, he scooped up the snow and immediately heaved it back at her, splattering her in the chest and eliciting a shriek of discomfort. "I'm a demon, bitch. A little snow ain't gonna hurt me." She gave a cute snarl and grabbed a dictionary from her shelf, weighing it in her hands. Spotting the danger, Inuyasha jumped up and out the window. Before he could reach his targeted branch, he heard a familiar shout, and a supernatural force tugged him to the ground face-first, leaving an Inuyasha-shaped imprint in the snowbank below.

Pulling his body from the impression, Inuyasha shook himself on all fours, scattering snow in every direction. A giggle from above caught his attention, and he saw Kagome staring down at him with small smile on her face, before she twirled and headed back into her room. _'She used to stay mad a lot longer than that,' _he thought to himself as he brushed a few clinging flakes of snow off his suikan.

The scent of his own blood finally registered in Inuyasha's brain, and he touched his mouth, drawing back a hand lightly stained with red. Moving the underside of his jaw from side to side, he winced at the soreness. _'That damn sit hurt.'_ Even so, the pain faded rapidly as his healing repaired the damage, and he'd taken care of his boredom, if only for awhile. Turning on his heel to head inside and maybe check the kitchen for some food, he was surprised to see the front door slide open and Kagome bound out in a parka.

He quickly wiped the last traces of blood away, and his gaze softened as he watched her run a circuitous route towards him, obviously reveling in the sound of her boots crushing in the snow. Stopping beside him, Kagome looked down to see the hole he'd left in the snow and covered her mouth with one gloved fist. "You made a snow demon," she laughed. "I can't imagine what falling into that much snow felt like." One fang glinted in the snow-reflected sunlight as Inuyasha gave her a wide grin in response. Kagome's own smile disappeared, and she retreated, hands waving defensively in front of her. "Inuyashaaaa. Don't you even think…"

Careful not to hurt her, Inuyasha picked her up and tossed her on her back into the pile of snow. She shrieked as some of it dripped down her neck, and quickly stood, digging her hand down the back of her shirt to shake it out. He threw his head back in laughter, fully expecting the snowball that exploded against his face an instant later, but not caring in the slightest. A war erupted, and they chased around the courtyard, throwing slush balls at one another and happily carrying on, Inuyasha restraining himself to a more human pace to even the odds.

To their surprise, Inuyasha suddenly stumbled. Though he managed to stay upright, his gait became awkward. Eyebrow raised, Kagome lowered her snowball-armed hand to her side. "You okay?" she shouted, taking a tentative step forward.

"Yeah," he shouted back, but the vibrating in his voice gave his discomfort away.

Walking over, her eyes roamed up and down his body. When her gaze settled on his feet, she gasped in surprise. "I think you're getting frostbite. Quick. We need to get you inside."

He shrugged off her hand with a look of injured pride. "Feh. I've been walking around in the snow for years, Kagome. Demons don't get frostbite."

With a sigh, she pointed down at his feet. "Your skin is purplish-white. That's frostbite."

"Well, I don't feel nothing, stupid," he retorted gruffly.

"That's because frostbite makes you numb, you idiot," she replied, iron in her voice.

Just to be stubborn, he tried jumping into the tree by her window, but he couldn't control his ascent and crashed back into the snow, cursing angrily. Genuinely worried, Kagome softened her tone. "Please come in the house, Inuyasha. Please?"

He huffed in annoyance but complied, awkwardly staggering to the front door. Once inside, she left him on the couch, returning a few minutes later with a bowl. Inuyasha gritted his teeth when he placed his feet in the lukewarm water; the difference in temperature made his skin burn. Kagome worried her lip, and looked silently at him until he couldn't take it anymore. "Quit starin' at me like that. Do somethin' useful, like make some ramen," he said irritably. To his chagrin, whatever was going on had her worried enough that she just nodded and went to the kitchen to boil some water.

Left alone, Inuyasha rubbed his chin, wincing at the lingering pain from his earlier impact. _'A bruise like this should have healed almost immediately, and frostbite? Am I getting' sick or somethin'?' He _glanced down at his claws and took a few sniffs of the air around him, then leaned down to rub his feet, running the pads of his fingertips over the nearly invisible, thin, white scars where the cat had scratched his ankle. He mulled recent occurrences over in his mind, but he couldn't come up with an explanation that wasn't bad. The only thing Inuyasha knew for certain was that he needed to get his strength back fast, before Kagome realized it was gone. As the smell of spiced noodles wafted from the kitchen, his attention was drawn to a small grandfather clock in the living room, ticking down the seconds in time with his own heartbeat. Something crystallized for him in that moment, some vague and distant knowledge, and he realized that time may not be as abundant as he thought.

**10**

Sweat dripped from Inuyasha's brow in the summer heat as he stood in the center of the shrine grounds, the transformed Tessaiga raised over his head. He glared hatefully at a tree in the distance, frustrated by his inability to do what he knew he must. _'There's no way I can explain this besides the truth. Once I do this, I'm committed,' _he thought, eyes stinging from the nervous perspiration trickling into them. Willing his stomach to calm, he gritted his teeth in determination and brought the blade back. _'I'd rather be alone and know it, than always wonder if I am without knowing it.'_

Like a time-lapse video of rock candy string, the metal of the sword encrusted with crystal. Stepping forward, Inuyasha brought the blade down in a wide arc, screaming "Kongosouha!" with full force as diamond spears exploded from the fang's tip. Concrete chunks spewed all over the yard, and deep furrows ripped into the earth. His ears flattened against his head from the noise and shock when the jewels carved through a tree in the distance instead of just embedding in it. He nearly bit through his lip as he watched the falling tree destroy a storage shed and the barrage pulverize one of the grounds' walls.

Moving quickly, he dug through the debris of the wall and removed the crystalline fragments, sifting through the detritus to find one with particular brightness and clarity. Jumping onto the roof of the Higurashi residence, he held his choice up to a billboard of a blushing woman on one of the hills overlooking the shrine. _'Heh. It worked! I knew if Souta wasn't buggin' me I could make the jewels. Now, to find a stonecutter.' _He turned to jump back onto the ground and got a birds-eye view of the damage he'd wrought. His grin faded. _'Do I try and clean this up now, or hope the jewel will distract them all?' _

A gasp from the top of the shrine steps informed him that the decision was out of his hands. Inuyasha recoiled at the shocked look on Mama Higurashi's face, and winced as her shopping bags fell from her limp grasp. Gulping anxiously, he landed lightly on the ground in front of her and sheepishly picked up the sacks of groceries.

"What in the world happened here, Inuyasha?" She stared around at the wreckage as she retrieved her bags from Inuyasha. To his surprise, the woman seemed calm despite her initial shock, and he wondered how much of the grey woven into her hair had bought her that inhuman patience.

"Well, I was…in the yard, and I had the Tessaiga, and…" he stammered. Her attention suddenly focused on one of his partly closed fists, and another gasp ended his stuttering.

"What's in your hand, Inuyasha? Is that…Is that for Kagome?" The bags thudded to the ground once again, ensuring they'd be eating something involving scrambled eggs, and she moved to pry his clawed hand open.

"Uh, I need this for one of those ring things that people wear." His heart was racing at a rate he wasn't sure even his demon stamina could take, and he felt like his blood couldn't decide whether to rush to his face or leave it entirely.

The older woman nodded and finally freed the glimmering rock from his hand. "I think I know how we can take care of this." Giving him a watery smile, she removed the silver ring from her own finger. "A smith can replace the jewel in this fitting with yours."

"You're giving me…your ring?" Inuyasha eyed the narrow band skeptically.

Mama nodded. "I wore this for years to remember my husband, Kagome's father." Although she continued to stare at him, her eyes glazed over. "I have her and Souta to remember him by, so I don't need it anymore. I've been waiting to give it to Kagome." Her gaze returned to him and she stepped forward to tuck herself under his arm. "I hoped since almost the first time we met that I'd be giving it to her through you."

Taking the silver setting and jewel back from her, Inuyasha stared at them for a moment, unable to meet the eyes of the woman who'd just given him her daughter. Mouth dry and throat constricted, all he was finally able to do was grab her in an embrace. _'I really have a mother again.'_

She patted his back as they stood for a few moments, before she withdrew to wipe tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. "Take it into town and get this taken care of. We'll worry about the clean-up when you come home."

Still unable to speak, he nodded with a grunt, racing out of the shrine grounds before the sound of her final sentence faded completely. Running with his demonic speed across the roofs of houses and buildings, Inuyasha located the shop Kagome had taken him to in the past. It was a stacked top to bottom with various foodstuffs and types of ramen, but he went straight to the counter.

A craggy-featured man in a red vest stood there. "May I help you?"

"I have a jewel and some silver, and I need a marriage ring." Setting the two items on the counter, Inuyasha folded his arms into his sleeves and looked at the man expectantly.

The man considered the request for awhile, before agreeing. "This is too big to fit the ring. How about I cut it down to something she'll like and keep the rest as payment."

The hanyou nodded, and the man disappeared into a back room. Soon the shrill pitch of stone being cut resonated throughout the shop, and Inuyasha moved toward the plate glass windows at the far side to put maximum distance between himself and the offensive noise. Looking outside, he met the cerulean gaze of Houjou, who had apparently recovered his health since his last meeting with Inuyasha The boy lifted his right hand, pointing two fingers at his own eyes, and then one finger right at Inuyasha, before catching back up to what appeared to be Shrill Girl. _'I knew I should've left him unable to walk,_' Inuyasha growled to himself. He entertained himself by imagining ways to injure Houjou should they meet again, and time passed so quickly, he was surprised when the man returned from the back to hand him a completed ring.

"Thank you," Inuyasha managed to shout out as he shot for the door, hoping to reach the shrine before Kagome got there. Emerging into the daylight, he glanced down to admire the sparkling ring in his hands, and was blindsided by a member of the teeming masses swarming the streets. The ring clattered to the ground, but before the hanyou could recover, it was picked up by Houjou.

"Well, well. Quite the beautiful ring, hanyou. I don't suppose you were under the mistaken impression that my fair Kagome would accept such a token from a wretch like as yourself?" he gloated, his voice sickeningly sweet. "Perhaps if a real man gives this to her, she'll be freed from whatever treacherous spell you've put on her, mutt."

Inuyasha didn't bother with a retort; he simply slammed his fist into Houjou's face. He frowned at the absence of the expected _crack_. _'That should have broken that fucker's nose.' _Regardless, it was by no means a light tap, and the boy staggered back. Houjou's face contorted with outrage, and he spat a pink wad onto the sidewalk.

"I should have known you'd be uncouth about this, half-breed." With that, he drew his own fist back. Inuyasha rolled his eyes in response, prepared to catch the arm and snap it off when it came at him. Unfortunately, he found himself screaming in rage as Houjou hurled the ring as far as he could down the street instead. "Fetch!" Houjou shouted, laughing as the item vanished into the distance.

Snarling in a fit of near apoplexy, Inuyasha darted into the street, narrowly missing a passing truck as he attempted to intercept the jewelry before it was lost. He spotted it making an awkward roll right for a grating, and he sprinted after it futilely, knowing he wouldn't make it in time. To his amazement, an instant before it vanished, it was plucked into the air on the long beak of a swooping bird.

'_It's that beady-eyed crane I saw that day in the fishpond.' _He considered that day in his head as he followed its flight path, confirming his suspicion that it was headed towards the shrine, then reached an unsettling realization. _'What the hell? The shrine doesn't __**have**__ a fishpond.' _

Inuyasha jumped to the rooftops to improve his chances of taking the bird down, bringing his claws up to his chest to prepare blades of blood. The crane _looked back _at him at that moment, and to Inuyasha's surprise, it squawked once before turning toward the shrine. He lowered his hands and managed to catch up and get directly under the bird, and it simply dropped the ring into his hands and flew away. Lost in thought about the strange circumstances, Inuyasha walked the stairs to the shrine and used the time to mull things over.

He didn't have long to ponder; Kagome was only a couple of minutes behind him.

She spotted him waiting for her underneath the God Tree. Walking over to him, she noticed the devastation in the shrine grounds, and her face grew angrier with every step. To Inuyasha's dismay, she looked ready to begin yelling, but the light from the setting sun caught the ring in his hands, and she faltered. _'I need to keep one of these on me at all times,' _Inuyasha thought.

"Is…is that for me?" she asked breathlessly.

Inuyasha drew in a deep breath, and gazed into her eyes as he tried to get out the words he'd been working through in his head for…ever. "You told me that you'd always be by my side, Kagome. I…I didn't really think it was true for a long time. Things that…great…just don't happen to me." He averted his eyes nervously. "You've made me less selfish, Kagome, but I still want to be selfish about this. I'll love you forever, and I want to keep you with me forever. I'll do the best I can to make you happy…to keep you safe…to be worthy of you." His voice fell into a heartrendingly pleading tone as he held the ring out to her. "Will you be my wife?"

He was finally able to look up and found that she had been struck silent. Before he could take it badly, however, she nodded, tears trailing down her face as she held out her hand. Forgetting the procedure, Inuyasha didn't even get the ring on, simply dropping it to the ground as he dragged Kagome into a crushing embrace, his own tears soaking her shirt as he held her.

Later that evening, after the celebrations had calmed down and the reality of their engagement had begun to sink in, they went back to collect the forgotten ring and found that it fit perfectly.

**11**

Having the window open was a frustrating tradeoff. On one hand, the cool autumn breeze brought fresh air through the living area, but on the other, the noise of thousands of leaves skittering across the paved ground of the temple courtyard was driving Inuyasha to wish he didn't have hanyou hearing. _'I can't even pay attention to the picture box with all that noise_.' He slammed the glass shut on one window, then moved toward the other.

To his longstanding amusement, the gouge in the concrete from when he'd created Kagome's wedding ring was still there, now filled with a mush of leaves and rainwater. The shed was rebuilt though, using lumber from the tree he'd toppled onto it. A memory played through his mind, of carving the wood into planks himself, and nailing them into place, but the images in his head seemed faded somehow. Since he'd come back through the well, many of his recollections seemed…incomplete. He could remember the entirety of their quest for the jewel, as vivid as ever in his brain, and a few moments since the well had closed; but for the most part, the blandness of his existence at the shrine blended unremarkably together,

Glancing at the grandfather clock, Inuyasha sighed. '_The closer Kagome gets to coming home, the slower time seems to move.'_ Sitting back down on the couch, he decided to focus his attention on the television screen now that he'd taken care of his leaf problem. After a couple of moments, the hanyou wondered if perhaps he wouldn't have been better off admiring the wind-scattered dead foliage.

'_The crap the humans in Kagome's time actually choose to watch. This is like one of Souta's games but with real people!' _he thought in disgust. On the screen, a poorly done tentacle monster was restraining a man inside of some pulsating, fleshy cave. The human was a brunette, if only by virtue of the incredible amounts of blood matting his hair, and his clothing was almost entirely dyed by the dark stains. He was being kept alive; whether or not he wanted to be alive was another question.

Inuyasha couldn't tear his eyes from the gruesome sight, even as a serious feeling of unease settled over him. Over his lifetime, he'd seen demons and humans alike ripped apart by the thousands, but he'd never imagined a tormentor could revel in atrocities like the villain on the television screen was committing. The hanyou's clawed hands ached in sympathy as stiff, serrated appendages sawed off his victim's fingers and toes at the first knuckle, and the poor weakling screamed as he tried unsuccessfully to pull away. When the captor moved to tooth extraction, Inuyasha wondered if he was going to get a second chance to enjoy the beef-flavored ramen he'd eaten earlier. Fortunately, at that moment, the box darkened.

He glanced behind him to see the disdainful expression of his wife, who stood with the remote in one hand, the other dragging her giant bag. She gave him a questioning look. "Why are you watching that depressing garbage, Inuyasha?"

"It's the only thing on the box."

"Well, why are you watching _the box_ at all?" Kagome huffed, a small grin on her face taking any actual bite out of her words.

"There's nothin' better to do while you're not around," Inuyasha whined, standing to face her, hands braced on the back of the couch.

"And what's better to do while I am around?" she asked playfully, tossing the remote carelessly onto a side table.

"You," he responded with a lascivious grin on his face. Kagome had grown since they'd returned through the well, with longer legs and fuller hair. The teenage girl had made the transition into womanhood, and though she still wore the same uniform that seemed to be a part of her, Inuyasha thought she looked better in it than ever.

Kagome giggled and gave a mock longsuffering sigh. "Why, thank you Miroku. That's most kind. I may be able to fit you into my schedule later this evening," she teased, moving to grab her bag once again to take it upstairs.

Inuyasha sprung over the back of the couch and lightly put his arm around her waist, drawing her to him for a brief pair of kisses. Before she could remind him of her 'schedule', he withdrew, lifting the bag from the ground to sling over his shoulder. He grunted as he did so, surprised at the weight of it. _'What is she carrying in here? Bricks?' _

"Oi, wench, what's in the bag?" he complained. Kagome gave him a puzzled glance in response.

"Just schoolbooks. Same as usual."

The bag certainly wasn't difficult to carry, but its heft made itself known more than he was used to. _'There better be something else in this bag, because if this ain't heavier, I'm getting weaker.' _Kagome noticed his annoyance as he followed her back to her room, and turned on her heel to give him another peck on the lips at the top of the stairs.

"I love you, Inuyasha," she said, her face stretched by a genuine smile, and her eyes radiating warmth.

The giant, yellow pack definitely seemed lighter after that.

**12**

'_It's not humans who've mastered the earth. It's clocks. Damn clocks have more power than any demon could have ever dreamed of,' _sulked Inuyasha as he sat on the branch of a tree outside Kagome's school. Through a gap in the leaves, he could see the small arm of the school clock crawl slowly but inexorably toward the 5. _'Nothing better to do than sit here in the heat and wait for Kagome.' _The occasional person would pass underneath his tree, but none of them was interested in him or of any interest to him. Other than Kagome and a few of her friends, the humans at the school blurred together and were indistinguishable from each other.

Finally, the clock hand reached its target and a series of chimes signaled the end of classes for the day. Students streamed out of the building. The thick summer air seemed to make aromas less distinctive, but he soon caught the scent of Kagome on the weak breeze and silently dropped down to the ground beside her. Unsurprised by Inuyasha's appearance, she gave him a tired smile. He didn't need the smell of her perspiration to know that she was miserable in the heat. Her nearly waist-length hair was stuck to her back, and she kept pulling her uniform away from her skin to let air in. Shaking off the less-than-honorable images that her fidgeting brought to mind, he took her heavy bag and slung it over his shoulder, settling for a quick peck on the lips in greeting.

"Thanks, Inuyasha. I missed you today," she said with a smile, brushing her bangs away from her forehead.

He smirked at her. "Well, you wouldn't have to miss me at all if you didn't insist on coming to this school of yours," he replied, following their script to the letter. Normally, this was her cue to put her hands on her hips and scold him for not respecting her obligations, but she just gave an amused sigh.

"Why don't we get home to the air conditioner and finish this argument in my bedroom." One of Inuyasha's eyebrows raised, and Kagome giggled, rubbing the bridge of her nose in embarrassment as she realized what she'd said. In answer, he bent down to allow her to climb onto his back. When she did, he ran his hands behind her thighs a little higher than usual as he lifted her, grinning mischievously.

Kagome's laugh bubbled with the delight of a small child as they sprang into the air. The wind rushing by cooled them both, and they escaped the broiling ground by racing over the treetops. Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder at her, and the look of exhilaration on her face propelled him forward faster. Grinning, he veered left to bound onto the roof of a temporary office at a building site. A new tower was being dug into the side of one of the hills separating the school from the shrine, and cutting through the construction saved him the trouble of going over or around, which would get them back to her room a couple of minutes faster.

The hanyou crouched on the edge of the building they were on, his powerful leg muscles coiling then uncoiling as he thrust himself and Kagome into the air. Immediately, his enjoyment morphed into confusion and concern. _'We're not gonna make it!' _he thought in a panic as it became apparent his ascent was underpowered. Just barely undershooting the girder he'd planned to land on, he managed to hook the edge of it with his talons. He gritted his teeth in pain as his claws simply sheared off, and they continued to fall with less forward motion. His mind began racing to figure out the best way to roll when they hit, but given the distance and speed, he knew Kagome was certainly going to be injured. She knew it as well, as her grip tightened, and she shrieked into the back of his suikan. To his shock, the wind was suddenly knocked out of him, and they were snapped backwards, then left to drift slowly to the ground. After a few seconds, Kagome unwound herself from his neck and risked a glance up.

"A crane?" she choked out between heaving gasps for air.

Looking back, Inuyasha saw a giant metal barb poking out the side of the backpack amidst a cluster of torn pages. The hook was attached to a crane that was slowly lowering to pick up other girders. A half-minute later, Inuyasha's feet touched the earth, and he reached back to free to bag. Although the area was littered with construction workers, none rushed to scold or help them. They just continued as if nothing had happened.

Both walked in a daze out of the site and stopped next to the road leading to the shrine steps, saying nothing as they caught their breath. Inuyasha's face was fixed straight ahead with an annoyed expression, and Kagome alternated between looking at his bleeding hand and staring at his profile in worry. "What's happening to you, Inuyasha?" she finally asked, quietly.

"Nothing's happening, Kagome. I just…got excited and didn't time things right," he said, guilt practically radiating from every pore on his face. He couldn't bring himself to look her directly in the eyes, but apparently the side of his face was enough for her.

"Inuyasha. Your claws don't break. You don't miss jumps. You don't…" Her voice trailed off as she reached up to finger some strands of his hair, staring at it as if she was close to solving a puzzle but was missing the last piece. "Are you sick? You don't need to hide anything from me."

"Hell, no. I'm just as strong as ever," he confidently stated.

"Inuyasha," she said calmly with an undercurrent of sadness in her tone. That, combined with her concerned expression, made him wilt, and he pulled her close to him, tucking her under his chin.

"I promised that I'd always protect you, but I'm afraid that I can't," he confessed to the top of her head. She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed lightly.

"You don't have to protect me here. We're safe." He nodded at the words, but his attention focused on an elderly woman struggling to walk down the sidewalk without assistance.

"I don't know if I can protect you from the clocks, Kagome," he admitted.

"The clocks?"

"Time. I'm worried I won't be able to keep you with me forever; that you're going to die someday, and I'm going to be alone again." He gripped her tightly, a faint voice in his head pointing out that he was now staining her clothes with blood from his fingers, but he couldn't bring himself to let her go. He smelled the salt of tears, and felt even worse for bringing it up.

"I'm so sorry, Inuyasha. I'm sure…I'm sure that I'll never leave your side." Her voice was filled with remorse, and he cursed himself for making her feel this way. "You're immortal, Inuyasha, and I'm always going to be with you." Similar words had been spoken before, but his confidence in them was waning. Still, her promise was enough to bring him a small measure of comfort, particularly since she seemed to have forgotten his physical weakness. Inuyasha stood and adjusted the backpack, then pulled his wife to her feet so they could continue their walk back to the shrine hand-in-hand.

**13**

Inuyasha found himself in a world of black and white, filled with pain and rage worse than he could ever recall experiencing. To his left was a teen-aged Kagome, dressed in a greyscale version of her usual school uniform. To his right was the pulsating interior of Naraku. Unintelligible screaming roared in his ears and the smell of decaying flesh assaulted his nose. Turning to Kagome for comfort, he found himself filled with a sudden desire to kill, his blood boiling in the telltale manner that preceded the emergence of his demon self.

Fingers extended into the formation he used to claw enemies, and though a small voice in his head shouted to put his hands back down, his body didn't listen. Staring at his fingers with a sense of horror, Inuyasha realized that his claws were missing and that he was human. This didn't stop him from attempting to claw her face, and she drew back in surprise with red marks across one cheek. To his dismay, he was helpless to get Kagome's attention and warn her in some way. Even without control of his body he felt a wave of nausea as he was forced to watch from inside his own head as a blow from his right fist shattered her nose.

Blood spattered her uniform, and she staggered backwards in shock, a soul-rending look of hurt and confusion on her face. His only response was to pull her towards him and strike her again with such force that it threw her into the wall of Naraku's body. Inuyasha nearly sobbed with frustration as her expression twisted into rage and finally hatred. His body continued to beat her, breaking ribs and marring her beautiful features. He felt his heart tear…and realized the sensation was physical _and _emotional as he looked down to see Kagome's hand holding the shaft of an arrow buried in his chest. He felt as cold as her countenance as she spat blood. "I knew you'd do this to me eventually, you filthy monster," she accused as the life drained from him, and he finally collapsed to the fleshy surface, only to feel it close around him.

Suffocating in a mass of pink, spongy material, Inuyasha clawed upward until he was able to emerge in a blurred, colorful room. Bringing a hand to his chest, he found the arrow gone and the wound sealed, though it still _hurt_. "Having trouble with your bleeding heart again, mutt," came a familiar lupine voice, which was joined by the snickering of two others. Inuyasha raised his eyes to see the familiar faces of Ginta and Hakkaku, but his taunter was nowhere to be found.

"This is for hurting Kagome!" came a shout from above, and Inuyasha jumped backward in time to dodge a flying kick from the human boy from Kagome's school. There was no time for confusion as the pink ground rumbled at the impact of Houjou's leg and a protrusion swelled where his foot hit.

"Waaaah! I didn't do anything! Don't hit me!" echoed through the room before the mass under their feet disappeared in a puff of smoke. There was only time to catch a glimpse of Shippou's foxtail as Inuyasha was once again hurtled through the air to land with a thud on another pulsating protrusion of Naraku. Coming to his feet, Inuyasha's eyes focused on a new, monochrome room just in time to catch Sango facing off with an obvious illusion of Naraku. With Rin in the doppelganger's arms and the taijiya bringing her boomerang to the ready, he quickly figured out what was happening.

"Don't throw it!" he shouted, surprised at his sudden ability to control his body as he ran toward the slayer. Unfortunately, being able to speak doesn't help when nobody can hear you, and he fell to his knees and punched the ground when the Hiraikotsu cleaved Rin's form like her body was paper-mache. Inuyasha glanced up just in time to see Sango's head join the pieces of Rin's body courtesy of Sesshoumaru's claws. He doubled over and dry-heaved where he knelt.

"I never lose," intoned a baritone voice next to him, and Inuyasha looked up to see another image of Naraku standing next to him. Turning his gaze forward, the illusion began a series of taunts, and Inuyasha followed his eyes to see an outraged and despairing Miroku preparing to inhale the doppelganger into his wind tunnel.

"It's a trap, Miroku! Don't use the Wind Tunnel!" he screamed, with equal futility. The beads fell to the ground a moment later, and Inuyasha was pulled in. To his dismay, the closer he came to the void, the more time seemed to slow down. Inuyasha felt his bones bend and finally snap all over his body as the immense pressure compressed him, and finally there was a bright flash of light and nothing.

Opening his eyes placed him in yet another compartment of the giant spider-ball, except now he found himself disembodied, watching his demon form brutally dismantle Kagome while she tried to return him to his senses with confessions of love and pleas for mercy. When death silenced her cries, Inuyasha was certain he was in hell. He was almost numb with disgust when he watched his transformed counterpart battle with Sesshoumaru, eventually succeeding in clawing through the taiyoukai's throat. He didn't even raise a hand to defend himself when his alter ego came after him, and Inuyasha realized he must have had a form after all when he felt the demon's extended talons sawing through his neck. The room twisted on its side, and he idly realized he was still able to see for the couple of seconds after his head had been removed. When it struck the ground with a dull thud, the room went black once again.

The world exploded into the full spectrum, and Inuyasha looked around to see that he was in a room with all of his friends, who were wearing colorful ceremonial robes and applauding him. Peering down at his body, he realized that he was naked. Raising his eyes in confusion, he met the sultry gaze of a veiled woman resting on a stack of pillows. With Kagome clapping and cheering in the corner of his vision, he knew it couldn't be her, but curiosity drove him forward until she stopped him with a finger rubbed seductively under his chin. The woman dropped her robe in one smooth motion, and Inuyasha found himself recoiling in horror from the unclothed form of Kaede. Forcing down bile, he was completely unprepared when tentacles burst from her wrinkled form, spearing him as everyone continued to clap and cheer.

And the world lost its color.

Inuyasha was in hanyou form, standing next to Kagome as they guarded a weakened and despairing Miroku and Sango. The Tessaiga was already raised above his head, charged with the Meidou, so he unleashed it at the nude Naraku, but his aim was off. The evil hanyou just looked back at him and laughed. Moments later, Byakuya appeared with an oddly sad expression on his face, carrying a black sword of his own. He swung it, trapping Inuyasha and Kagome in the Meidou that had missed. He grabbed at her, but could only watch in agony as the vortex dissolved Kagome's flesh. She gasped in agony, and the sound reverberated painfully in his head, looping around and around until the void ate away at his eyes, and the shrillness of terror was the only thing he knew. To his puzzlement, in his blindness he could see the vision of a crane, in perfect color. It turned its beady eyes upon him and spoke one word in a soothing tone.

"Persist."

Screaming filled his ears once again, but Inuyasha soon realized the voice was his. With a heavy sense of dread, he opened his eyes to see that color had returned and that he was back in their bedroom, the faint hues of early morning streaking the sky. Spying black hair lying across his shoulder, he sagged in relief because Kagome was safe, then started when he realized it was his own. _'The new moon,'_ he thought as he tried to get up. Movement, however, brought pain so sharp and widespread, it felt like he'd just been tossed down the side of a rocky mountain. Something cool and wet was placed on his forehead, and he let his head fall back on a pillow, glancing up to meet Kagome's worried gaze.

"What happened?" he rasped out. She gently stroked the side of his face with one hand, her voice low and soothing.

"You've had the worst fever I've ever seen. You did nothing but thrash and scream all night." Discolorations on her skin pointed to where she had taken the brunt of some of that thrashing, and he felt guilt wash over him. "I wasn't sure you were going to wake up, Inuyasha." Her eyes clouded with emotion, and her shoulders shook with suppressed sobs.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. I…I didn't mean to hurt you," he softly replied, chastened by her reaction. She sniffed once, wiped her nose against her hand, and drew in a deep breath.

"What were you dreaming about?" she asked in a trembling voice. "Well, I was…I can't remember," he replied honestly. _'That was the worst nightmare of my life? Why can't I remember it? Kagome. I was hurting Kagome. Naraku was there. And persist. The crane said, "persist."'_

She just nodded in response, and moved his head into her lap as he cooled down. The sun grew brighter and brighter, and the relief that was beginning to seep into Kagome's face drained away. "Inuyasha? The sun's up, but you're still human."

He looked down at himself, and knew she was correct. _'Fuck. It's getting worse. My senses aren't back.' _Panicking, he twitched in denial and chanted, "No, no, no, no, no."

Kagome rubbed the top of his head to try and comfort him, but gave him a quizzical look. "Wait. You knew this would happen? Is this what you've been keeping from me?"

Shaking his head furiously, he protested, "No! Nothing like this. I wasn't sure anything was really goin' on," earning a concerned expression that contained a hint of disapproval.

"We promised to be together forever. You have to tell me what's going on, or we're not really together," she gently chided.

"Well, we can't be together forever if I stay _human_." Inuyasha squeaked on the last line, beginning to hyperventilate. Before he could go into a full-blown seizure, however, his fingernails began to elongate. Soon after, his teeth sharpened and his hair turned white. He calmed down immediately as he felt his ears shifting to the top of his head. Once his hanyou form returned, he noticed that his hair wasn't quite as bright as it used to be, so he quickly stood up to look in the mirror, ignoring Kagome's noise of surprise. Grunting in pain, he stumbled across the room, his uncoordination indicating the seriousness of the strain on his human body. In his reflection, Inuyasha noticed some streaks of black around his temples, as if he was reaching the "distinguished" look in reverse.

He glanced back at her in bafflement. "What the fuck happened last night?" he asked, partly to her and partly to himself.

"It was terrible. The moment your hair turned black, you started shaking with pain, and you were grabbing your head and yelling things like 'Stop! Run away! He's a fake!' You were having a seizure, and I had to wrap you in blankets and lay on you to keep you from hurting yourself. Telling you I loved you kind of helped, so I think I was getting through to you somehow, but I was worried you weren't going to make it."

Hearing Kagome say that she loved him caused a peculiar mix of elation and indescribable sadness—the sort that comes when learning that your father just left you a kickass sword, but the only reason its yours now is because he's dead—and he returned to the bed to hold her, as if to reassure himself she was real. Her nearness seemed to make everything else around him a little better, reducing the premonition that at any moment he'd find he was still trapped in that dream. They stayed like that for a while, and Inuyasha sensed his muscles slowly relaxing and healing.

"Are you losing your demon power, Inuyasha?" Kagome finally ventured.

Inuyasha paused, but admitted, "I think so. I'm not sure. I just…I can't do some of the things I used to." His voice communicated his devastation over the possibility, and she looked up at him with watery eyes, forcing a small smile for his benefit.

"You do know that I've always loved you in all of your forms, right? Demon, hanyou, human—I'll love you no matter what you become." He gripped her a little tighter and nodded once again. _'But what good is that love if it's just going to end?' _he thought to himself.

**14**

"Why'd it take ya so long to get such good taste in food, wench?" Inuyasha asked, a smug expression on his face as he watched Kagome forego the chopsticks and just throw back the cup of ramen, sucking down the noodles like it was a glass of tea. He was unable to suppress a snicker at the muffled, "Shut up," that emerged from the behind the cardboard, and found himself dodging the container when it was thrown at his head.

"You need to learn when to let your wife hit you," Kagome said, fixing him with a glare as she used a cloth to wipe the remains of her breakfast-in-bed away from her chin. A quiet knock at the door announced the arrival of Kagome's mother, and the grey-haired woman stuck her head around the corner of the door a moment later, giving both of them a smile.

"Did you get enough to eat, dear? If you hurry, I can make you some more to have on your way out," Mrs. Higurashi offered as she took the empty package from Inuyasha. Her eyes twinkled with amusement as she twirled the cup in her hand. "Looks like I'll have to add these to my shopping list. I never imagined we could go through instant noodles even faster."

"It's all his fault," Kagome complained, gesturing at her hanyou husband as she walked across the room to examine herself in the mirror. "I can't even smell oden without feeling nauseous."

"That just means the little guy can sniff out good eats," Inuyasha teased.

"And what makes you think it's going to be a boy?" Kagome lightly retorted.

"No!" Mrs. Higurashi interjected, causing both of them to look at her in surprise. "Don't start that, you two. Your father and I argued about whether or not you'd be a boy or a girl, and friends told me for months that it wasn't cute at all. Do what we did for Souta and pick a name for each. You'll find out when you find out, and can make it nine months without making it unbearable for the rest of us. Now, are you going to want more food, dear?"

While wearing an increasingly undersized uniform wasn't the best time to be asked such a question, and Kagome shook her head furiously as she stared disgustedly into the mirror. "No, mom, I'll be fine. I'm bloated enough already." Turning around a couple of times, she finally glanced back at Inuyasha. "Do you think this looks ridiculous?"

He had to admit that it did. She hadn't yet reached beached-whale status, but Kagome's stomach was beginning to cause her shirt to rise up enough to expose skin. Fortunately, every man, even a hanyou who spent most of his life as a social outcast, knows enough not to admit such things out loud. Inuyasha moved up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Sniffing at her neck to buy time, he could pick up the hormonal changes in her scent that signaled her pregnancy. It was less so than he could recall for other pregnant women he'd met in the past, but it was distinctive nonetheless. "You'll always look beautiful to me."

She gave him a look of disbelief and shoved him away. "Never mind," she grumped. "This is entirely your fault," she reminded him once again.

Inuyasha slunk back to the bed, remembering a conversation he'd once had with Miroku. _"The best way to deal with a pregnant woman is to constantly let her know that you love her, respect her condition, accept your role in causing it, and that you will continue to cherish and protect her and the gift she's going to give you. You want to let her know all of this from far away."_

Inuyasha watched her bedroom alarm clock tick away the minutes while Kagome continued to fuss with her uniform in front of the mirror. His exasperation grew as she frittered away the time at a pace much slower than he knew she could go. Inuyasha's protective instincts demanded he get more food into her, but fortunately, those same instincts kept him quiet. "Oh my God! The time! Why didn't you tell me, Inuyasha?" she demanded. As expected, her tardiness was his fault, and she fixed him with an angry stare as she raced about the room.

"Oi, you shouldn't be running around in your condition. You should be in bed…with me." The innuendo was added at the last second by his mouth without the approval of his brain, and he cursed himself mentally. _'If I was full demon, my instincts would have stopped me from saying that,_' he thought. Kagome didn't even blush at this point, and just turned her head to favor the hanyou with a mildly exasperated look.

"We've had this discussion before. I have to keep going…" she said, her voice trailing off as he stared off into the distance distractedly, as if he hadn't said anything inflammatory. Her dark expression melted into a small smile. "I think you mastered that aloof act from your brother."

'_Huh? She's not mad? Wait, she's comparing me to Sesshoumaru?' _His blank countenance shattered as Inuyasha growled at her, "Where do you get off comparing me to that asshole?" This only caused Kagome to giggle, but that ceased when she spied the clock, causing her to frantically stuff her backpack. When she finished gathering her books, they headed downstairs where Mama Higurashi intercepted them at the door. Inuyasha looked longingly at the cup of ramen steaming on the table, but the older woman shook her head.

"No time, Inuyasha. I've got a lunch right here for you, though. Extra pickles for you, Kagome. Dried potatoes for you, Inuyasha, in case you end up staying in the tree to watch her again." She tittered at his obvious discomfort over how well she knew him. "Now be on your way." Inuyasha picked up the bag with one arm, took his lunch in the other, and allowed Kagome to hold her own.

The cool, autumn breeze scattered leaves along the pavement in a symphony of scraping as Inuyasha and Kagome walked toward her school. With his fading energy and her condition, it wasn't worth the risk of injury to try and take her on his back. They walked in silence until she noticed the reflective look on Inuyasha's face. "What's wrong, Inuyasha."

"I can't remember what happened to the bastard," he softly replied.

"The bastard?" she asked.

"Sesshoumaru. I remember him with us inside of Naraku's body, but I can't remember anything about him since. Do you remember anything?" he asked quietly.

Kagome thought about it for a moment. "No…no, I don't, but we had to get out of there so quickly it was all sort of a blur. I didn't know the well was going to close up when we went through it, so I didn't think we'd have to check on that sort of thing."

"You can't recall if he even survived or not?"

"No, I really can't. I'm sure he did. He was always very difficult to get rid of. Almost as difficult as you." Her elbow dug into his side to punctuate the joke, but Inuyasha didn't smile.

"Is it possible that he's survived to today? Or Shippou? Or even the mangy wolf?" he asked.

"I guess it's possible, but we've never really seen any other demons around. Five hundred years is a very long time. We have no idea what could have happened," she admitted. "Shippou's the only one that might know to find us, anyway."

He nodded, deep in thought as they continued their sedate pace around the hill and past the construction zone. _'There's no way my fucking brother would ever let humans intrude on the land this much if he could help it. No demons except me, it seems. It had to happen a long time ago, or humans would have recorded it, but what could be powerful enough to eliminate them all?'_

He was just about to move on to happier thoughts when Shrill Girl and Grating Girl seemed to materialize out of nowhere and began fawning over Kagome.

"Oh, Kagome, how have you been?" asked Shrill Girl shrilly.

"Oh, my, you're glowing. Your hair and skin look wonderful," said Grating Girl gratingly.

"When are you due?" asked Shrill Girl gratingly, just to mix things up.

"Is it kicking? What are you going to name it?" sang both of them simultaneously in a brain-cell melting harmony.

Inuyasha's claws flexed subconsciously as they all continued to walk along, the two interlopers practically dancing around Kagome like yapping…_'Well, like those two idiots that always hung around the wolf.' _

"What are you ladies doing with Kagome? She's carrying hanyou spawn," rang out the familiar voice of Houjou as they entered the school grounds, and Inuyasha's senses went on high alert immediately. The two girls glared back at him, while Kagome grabbed his hand with her own. "Nice dye-job half-breed, but you want to color the entire head if you want to pass for human," the human sneered, before the chiming of the school clock chased him inside. The annoying duo looked at Kagome apologetically and followed. Inuyasha's chest heaved with barely contained rage, but Kagome's reassuring grip reminded him that he had more important things to be concerned with.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"Oh, I'm fine. I can feel him kick once in a while. He's going to end up being strong, like his father," she replied, smoothing a hand over her bulge. Inuyasha smirked at this, and dropped back to wrap his arms around her, pushing against her stomach lightly as they awkwardly walked the last few steps to the school door. Finally letting her go, he returned her pack and gave her a quick kiss before jumping into the tree.

Settling in and letting the wind wash over him, he reflected on his impending parenthood. _'I'm going to be a father! I'm going to be there for him. It's going to be perfect with Kagome and me around at all times. I'll keep him safe and make sure he grows up to be powerful.' _The presence of food made him hungry, he unwrapped his lunch and began eating while his thoughts turned to the creation of that new little life. He smiled at the thought of his beautiful wife. Inuyasha recalled the first time they made love…or at least he tried to remember.

To his surprise, nothing came to mind—no images of passion, no remembered smells of sex. He wracked his brain for any hint that he'd ever been intimate with Kagome, but nothing came up. _'Shit. I can't remember having sex with my own wife? I can't tell her this, or she'll break my back sitting me…I know it's mine. My nose isn't lying about that. No other man has been on her.'_

Closing his eyes, he could picture her as a teenage girl, bathing in the cold water near the village after they first met, water dripping off her naked flesh before his face had made a high-speed impact with the ground. He could remember bursting into the baths at the sage Tokujin's compound where she was marinating in sake, and how the rush of blood to his face may have helped stop him from bleeding out. These images were so vivid, he felt as if he could reach out and touch her, and indeed _wanted_ to. Focusing, he imagined the adult body of the woman he loved, being exposed piece by beautiful piece as she disrobed. He could picture it, but it had an incomplete quality, as if it was a guess and not a memory.

Panic and confusion set in as he went through his head for possibilities. _'Am I losing my memory? How can I not remember this?' _Thinking back, he could remember his childhood with his mother. Scenes of learning from her, being kept indoors from the village kids, fleeing town after her death. He could remember being alone, hunted by both demons and humans, and meeting Kikyou for the first time. He remembered every fine detail of his journey to reassemble the jewel and find Naraku. The gaps in his memory began with the final battle, but he could remember coming back through the well, the old man dying, beating up Houjou, proposing to Kagome…

A weight had settled in his stomach, and Inuyasha was unable to continue that line of thought. Jumping from the tree, he looked from the school to the direction of the shrine and back. Remembering that Kagome had only ever been in danger at her school once, and from a threat that had been eliminated, he decided to sprint back to the shrine. He was unable to make it entirely up the steps before he was winded, and he was dragging by the time he reached the house.

Mrs. Higurashi looked at him in concern as he entered through the door into the kitchen. "Inuyasha? You look exhausted. Is anything wrong?" Panting, he braced himself against the wall and looked at her, unable to speak. "Is Kagome okay?" the woman asked worriedly, grabbing a glass from the cabinet, she filled it and handed it to him. Inuyasha shook his head, and let the water slide down his throat. Seating himself at the low table, his cheeks reddened as he considered how to phrase his question. He looked up at her, clasping the glass in both hands, and finally asked. "Uh….have you ever…uh….heard Kagome and I…coupling? "

The embarrassed question was answered, not by Kagome's mother but by raucous laughter from the living room. Inuyasha growled as he could hear Souta gasping for breath, and then nearly managed to match the color of his suikan as his brother-in-law's baritone boomed back into the kitchen. "You've made me come down to sleep on the couch a few times." One of the few consolations to the hanyou was that Mrs. Higurashi seemed almost as embarrassed as he was. They just sat there stunned for a moment, unsure of what to say. Eventually, the snickering from the living room subsided, and the sound of digitally simulated combat could be heard once again.

'_Oh, that little shit is gonna pay,' _Inuyasha thought darkly while Kagome's mother found the table extremely fascinating. His heart fell as she looked up, and he unconsciously reared back in defense as she sucked in a breath to speak.

"Are you worried that you're making too much noise?" she asked quietly. "Maybe we can move you two or Souta into Grandpa's old room, if that's what you're concerned about." Looking into his eyes, she became more thoughtful. "But you wouldn't have raced here as fast as you could for just that, Inuyasha. What's bothering you?" Suddenly he could agree, the designs in the wood of the table _were _extremely interesting."You can tell me anything, you know. We're family."

Something about those comforting words cut through his usual shields, and they sat there for most of the afternoon, Inuyasha explaining his circumstances and fears. Mrs. Higurashi was very perceptive, and seemed to know all of it already, but it felt good to get it off his chest. He discussed the apparent waning of his demon power, his concerns that he wouldn't be able to keep Kagome safe, and his apparently disappearing memory. She calmly listened, offering kind words and reassurances now and again.

"Well, we are on one of the most holy sites on Japan. Maybe you and Kagome should go through the archives. If there's anything around that can help with your…problem, it would be here." Inuyasha's eyes widened, and his ears perked up hopefully as he considered that fact. She smiled, putting her hand on his. "And if you're so worried about what you can't remember with Kagome, maybe you should make some new memories. I had some friends I was planning to visit, and tonight seems as good a night as any." She raised her voice, "And I think Souta was thinking about spending the night out with his friends as well."

"What?" boomed back from the living room, but they both ignored it for the moment.

"Are you going to tell Kagome about…my memory?" Inuyasha asked with trepidation.

"Don't worry, Inuyasha. I have no idea what you're talking about," she answered with a wink.

"I just spent hours explaining it to you? How could you have forgotten?" he exclaimed.

Mrs. Higurashi gently patted him on the arm and shook her head. "You're secret's safe with me."

The clock indicated that it was time to get Kagome if he wanted to escort her home, so he stood, giving Mrs. Higurashi a small bow in thanks. He cracked his knuckles as he entered the living room, where Souta was playing video games. In revenge for the earlier embarrassment, Inuyasha wrapped one arm around Souta's head and rubbed his scalp with the other. "Ow, stop, I'm trying to concentrate," the younger male shouted as he thrashed around, managing to shake Inuyasha off. "What was that for?" he asked angrily, tensing as if he was actually considering the possibility of retaliation

"For listening in on Kagome and me," Inuyasha smugly replied. Souta was taller than he was now, and possibly weighed more, but he lived on video games and had no fighting skills or demon power. Inuyasha was certain he could take him.

"Well, it's kinda hard not to listen to you to, with how you carry on," Souta sarcastically retorted. It gave Inuyasha a flash of male pride that his carnal activities were that athletic, but at the same time, it increased his sadness over his inability to remember them firsthand. The television suddenly erupted with a sound of digital failure, and the screen filled with the menacing countenance of some kind of multi-appendaged monster. Souta yelled a protest when he realized his character had died, but his mother's entry stopped further noise.

"Oh, good of you to turn that off. You're going to be staying with a friend tonight," she said, giving Inuyasha a knowing nod as he turned to leave the house. The evening was warm and clear, and he made respectable time to the school. He entered the grounds just as the chimes went off, and before long Kagome appeared, rubbing her stomach as she walked. She fell into step beside him, and he made the trip back to the shrine for the second time that day. He plotted the evening in his mind with anticipation, while making sure to absently nod and grunt as she nattered on about her friends, the misery of her tests, and the obnoxious work she was forced to do. When they reached the top of the shrine steps, Kagome's mother was on her way out.

"Oh, I see you two are back. Dinner is on the stove. I'll see you tomorrow," the older woman sweetly said.

"Mom? Is something wrong? Where are you going?" Kagome asked, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, just to see some friends." Her silver hair gleamed in the setting sun. "A woman has to do her playing while she's still young, you know." She laughed at her own joke, and adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder. "Souta's staying with a friend tonight, so you have the house to yourselves. Try not to make a mess out of the place." With that, she gave a final wink and set off down the stairs.

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha in confusion. "Why'd she wink? Why is she leaving?"

Inuyasha replied with a perfect deadpan, "I think she just wants to see her friends." He heaved her bag through the doorway and grabbed her hand, practically dragging her to the house and inside. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."

On the kitchen stove was a pot filled with about a half-dozen cups of ramen. It was actually a close race as to which one of them was drooling more, though Inuyasha quickly learned the folly of commenting on that. After he picked himself off the floor, the two of them filled bowls and dug in, actually managing to have an entire dinner conversation revolving around nothing but all of the combinations of flavors that would work well with the noodles. By the time they cleaned up afterward, which was understood to mean that Kagome cleaned while making sure Inuyasha didn't touch the appliances, the sun had set, and the house was quiet. Seated once again at the low table, Kagome yawned and stretched, then suddenly jerked in her seat. "I think the baby's acting up again," she grumbled.

Inuyasha held out his hand hesitantly, and she nodded, so he splayed her fingers against her belly. Sure enough, he could feel the quick push against his hand, and he grinned widely. "S'gonna be a strong one."

She looked back at him and smiled, "Just like the father." The sappy, happy couple scene was broken a few moments later, when Kagome stood, cracking her back. "Well, it's time for me to go study." Inuyasha nodded, and followed her up the stairs, assuming his position on the bed as she opened her textbooks and worked. After a time, he finally got an idea in his head, and laid back on the bed, extending his muscles one-by-one in cat-like laziness. He noticed her looking at him out of the corner of her eye, and he removed his fire-rat robe, leaving his hakama and kosode in place.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He shrugged innocently, "Nothing, really. It was just kinda warm in here and I think I might go to sleep soon if you're going to continue to study that boring crap."

She sighed, "I don't want to study this boring crap. I'd love to study something interesting, but I have to study what they give me."

He smirked at her, "Then why not study me?"

She looked at him incredulously for a moment, and then burst out laughing, "Oh my God, Inuyasha. You're flirting with me. That has to be the worst come-on line I've ever heard from anyone."

He sat up, indignant. "So how many come-on lines have you heard from people?" he demanded.

"None from people I wanted to hear them from," she replied smartly, her shoulders still shaking with barely stifled laughter. "Still, it was a good try. I'll let you know if it worked." He glowered at her teasing, and she resumed her studying…for about sixty seconds. Then she was on him, tugging away at his shirt and raining kisses down the side of his face and neck.

'_She smells fantastic, like new life and want.' _His heart and pride both swelled at that thought, and he pulled her up to capture her lips with his own. He ran his tongue over her teeth and warred with her tongue before allowing her in his mouth to explore. _'She's absolutely aglow. As beautiful as I've ever seen her._' She reared back on his chest, her eyes burning with undeniable need, and she reached down to pull her shirt up over her head.

'_How could I ever forget this?'_

**15**

It was going to rain, and that always put Inuyasha in a bad mood. The change in air pressure distorted his equilibrium, and regardless of the shelter he was in, there would be a ghostly sensation of getting wet. The clear sky looked innocent enough, but his subconscious shouted that the calm was a deception. The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end as a cry of pain from Kagome's window echoed through the courtyard, and he fixed Souta with a glare.

"One of these days, kid, I'm gonna to be the one keeping you from your wife," he darkly growled. Souta sat nonchalantly at the base of the tree outside of Kagome's window, playing a handheld video game…with a chainsaw across his lap.

'If he tries to climb the tree to come in, cut it down,' Kagome's mother had said in her typically sweet voice, which was downright creepy when used to say something distinctly less than cheerful. It was overkill, since the bedroom window was shut and probably locked, but Souta had taken the request seriously, arming himself with one of the devices used around the wires that were strung between buildings.

Another scream caused Inuyasha's ears to flatten against his head, and he stormed into the house, hell-bent on getting into the bedroom. Waiting for him at the top of the stairs was Kagome's mother, and his string of curses trailed off as he entered her presence. "How is she?" he asked as he climbed the steps, waiting for the inevitable command to turn right around and leave.

"They are fine, Inuyasha," she replied with a warm smile on her face, and she threw her arms around him for a congratulatory hug. He continued heading for the bedroom, and managed to pull Mrs. Higurashi with him for a couple of paces. She withdrew with an embarrassed expression on her face. "I'm sorry. I'm just so happy for you. Go on in and see your family."

As he burst into the bedroom, he was assaulted by the smell of afterbirth, and he wrinkled his nose slightly as he approached Kagome, who tenderly held a blanket-swathed object. She looked up at him and gave him a watery smile. "It's a girl, Inuyasha. We have a little girl."

Inuyasha sat on edge of the bed next to his wife, wrapping his left arm around her shoulder while bringing his right to pull back the coverings on his daughter to get a better look at her. "She has your ears," Kagome said, unable to wait the two seconds it would take him to see for himself. Sure enough, two tiny dog ears were matted to her head, the dark fur still damp. Grey eyes looked around, unfocused, and her nose twitched adorably as she identified the new person near her. Heart swelling with pride, he lightly laughed as a squeak escaped from the baby's mouth.

"What's her name," he asked Kagome softly, struggling to keep his voice from shaking.

"You're asking me?" she replied with raised eyebrow.

"Well…you sorta did all the work here. I think you should name her…I want you to name her. Whatever you come up with will be beautiful."

She blinked a few times in pleased surprise, then confidently responded. "Kikyou. We'll name her Kikyou." Inuyasha started, and he gave Kagome a look to silently tell her that she'd lost her mind. She grinned at his discomfiture. "It's a name I know you associate with love, and it just fits. Kikyou was part of me, and now I'm part of Kikyou. It just seems right." Her answer to his unspoken questions allayed his concerns somewhat, though he couldn't help but recall some of the epic confrontations they'd had in the past about the woman attached to that name.

"Okay, Kagome. Kikyou it is," he replied, the peaceful face of his new daughter calming his nerves. He gave her a paternalistic smile filled with longing. Kagome picked up on his feelings before he even knew them fully, and held the blankets out to him.

"Hold your daughter, Inuyasha," she whispered, gently transferring the child into his arms. Tensing in an effort not to move at all, he stared in wide-eyed dismay as his new charge began to fuss in his grasp. Kagome, for her part, let out a wide yawn and lay back against the pillows, continuing to watch her husband. "You're making her nervous, so relax. I know you won't hurt her," she quietly chided. He threw a skeptical glance her way, but managed to comply and smiled broadly as Kikyou settled in his arms. 'I did it!' was written on his face, and he rocked her slightly, earning an approving nod from his wife.

"Nobody has ever given me anything like this. I…I never imagined that things would turn out this way for me. I've told you before that I'm just not that lucky. If you hadn't come, Kagome, I would be dead. Not because I'd still be pinned to the tree, but because I don't think I would have ever tried to live beyond staying alive and looking for power. This…this is happiness," he finished as he stared incredulously at the small likeness of them both in his arms. There was an unnerving silence, so finally Inuyasha turned to meet Kagome's gaze only to find her fast asleep, exhausted from her ordeal. "What is it about my feelings you find so boring?" he lightly chuckled, as he recalled similar instances in their past.

The rumble of distant thunder blended with the noise of contentment from Inuyasha's chest as he smiled down on the small bundle in his arms. Adjusting his hold so she could see out the window, he showed her the world, seeing with the perspective of a newborn. The sunset painted the sky in hues of orange and pink that highlighted the few clouds to the west, while flashes from the approaching storm from the east gave the sunset an ethereal glow. Bringing the baby slightly closer, he used one clawed finger to tuck the blanket in more snugly around her before whispering to her softly. "You may be the second luckiest half-breed ever born, Kikyou. Luckiest goes to your old man, because he has your mother, and now you," he murmured huskily as emotion threatened to overwhelm him. "You're gonna have so much love, and you'll always be safe and cared for. I…I never realized it until now, but the world…the world is great and kind, and we're going to explore it together."

A small gurgle was her response, and she waved a tiny fist unsteadily before falling asleep in his arms, a peaceful expression on her face. That trust was the best answer he could ask for, and he cuddled her against his chest as tightly as he dared as the rain began a steady, soothing rhythm.

**16**

Outside the window, bare branches could be seen twisting in the whistling winter wind. Inuyasha watched them with half-lidded eyes as he lay on the floor of the kitchen. He blinked as the amused face of his cup-holding wife replaced the grey skies in his view. "I brought you some hot tea, Inuyasha," she said. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her constant need to explain the obvious, and began to sit up. A tug on hair sent his head crashing back into the floor, and a gurgling laugh identified his young daughter as the culprit; she was currently using his splayed out curtain of hair as a cushion.

Kagome's giggle and knowing look left no doubt in his mind that she had known what getting him to sit up would do. Inuyasha bared his fangs at her in mock threat and growled playfully, earning a light kick to the side of his leg. Glaring didn't buy him any sympathy either, and Kagome started to walk out of the room, humming a simple melody.

"Oi! Get this thing off me," he called out, but she laughed and left. Reaching over his head to maneuver Kikyou off his hair would be too awkward, so Inuyasha let his gaze turn to admiring the ceiling. To add insult to injury, he soon felt something warm and wet grab the top of his left ear. Looking up, he could only see his bangs, but he didn't need to see it to know what was happening. "My ears are not dumplings, brat," he complained to no avail; she whimpered and continued gumming the furry appendage.

"Dumpling shells! I knew I forgot something at the store," Mrs. Higurashi lamented as she shuffled into the kitchen carrying a few bags of food. Laugh lines crinkled as she smiled down at the pair. Setting the groceries on the stove, she propped herself against the oven handle and watched them. "She's adorable with you, Inuyasha," the proud grandmother mused.

"You and Kagome are bad enough, but the runt has her own pair of ears," Inuyasha grumbled, wincing slightly at the series of a high-pitched whines his daughter emitted directly into his ears. He always felt a vague sense of longing when she made noises like that, but couldn't quite put his finger on what it meant. It seemed that as time passed, the nonsensical chuffs and yips she made became sadder and more…lonely. His mother-in-law seemed perplexed as well, but had less trouble vocalizing her concerns.

"I swear. Sometimes she makes noises almost like a dog. Can you understand what she's saying?" the older woman asked.

"Yeah. She's saying my ear is a chew toy," Inuyasha responded with a scowl.

She gave him a skeptical look. "I thought that since…"

"I know what you're thinking, and I'm not a dog. I'm half dog-demon, and while I sorta feel like I should understand some of it, I can't. No big deal, though. Mom couldn't understand me," he admitted. "Besides, it's not like little kids have anything useful to say anyways."

Almost on cue, Kikyou bit down on his ear, hard, and Inuyasha yelped, yanking his hair as he dragged it out from under her in his escape. Sitting up, he lifted her and held her to eye level, just in time to have her sneeze in his face.

"Oh, my, you're bleeding. Let me get you something," Mama Higurashi cried out in concern, answering his unspoken question about the extent of the damage to his throbbing ear.

Inuyasha chose not to argue. 'Either way, this ends with me having a Higurashi woman treating my injury,' he thought, and focused his attention back on Kikyou. Cradling her in one arm, he moved one finger down to her mouth, and she immediately allowed it in. Exploring with the pad of his finger, he felt the sharp point of a tiny fang an instant before she clamped down, drawing blood again.

"Ow, dammit!" Inuyasha shouted, pulling his finger back out and shaking it. The child in his arms looked at him with big sad eyes before bursting into tears.

"No swearing, Inuyasha," Kagome ordered as she breezed through the door from school, tossing her bag in the corner. "I'd like her to be polite when she grows up," she admonished as she snatched Kikyou from his grip. She made cooing noises at the child, but the wails only grew in intensity. Tossing an accusatory look over her shoulder, she demanded, "What did you do to her?"

Opening his mouth to protest, Inuyasha was cut off by the return of Kagome's mother. "He didn't do anything to her, dear. Kikyou decided to be a little rough with his ears," she said easily, as she dabbed a cold washcloth against the bleeding wound.

"A little rough with ears?" Kagome parroted in confusion.

"She bit me," Inuyasha grumped, wincing as his injury was cleaned.

His wife seemed far less interested in his parenting battle scar and far more interested in this new milestone. She looked down at Kikyou and grinned. "You're teething? Are you getting fangs like your daddy? Oh, we need to get you something to chew on. Throughout the entire exchange, the baby's upset had slowly diminished into mere fussing, punctuated by canine whining now and again.

Finishing up her medical duties, Mrs. Higurashi walked over the refrigerator and began rummaging around in the interior. Emerging moments later with a bone-in steak, she unwrapped it, set it on the counter, and started a pot of water boiling.

"Don't tell me you're gonna…" Inuyasha started.

"Oh, mom, that's great idea!" Kagome finished.

"She's not a dog," he snorted.

"Do you have a better idea?" Kagome retorted. The hanyou answered with silence, and his wife rolled her eyes and walked over to sit by him, propping Kikyou on her thigh, trying to keep her own hair away from the toddler's grasping hands. "How's your ear feeling?" she asked with concern.

"It's just a scratch," he replied, his gaze softening as it focused on the black-haired child in his wife's arms. They sat like that for a while as Mrs. Higurashi removed as much of the meat as she could before boiling the bone. Finally, the makeshift chew toy was placed in front of Kikyou's face. She sniffed at it experimentally, and let out a high-pitched whuff before grabbing it with her small hands and shoving the end of it in her mouth to gnaw on. The grinding could be heard by everyone in the room.

"Wow, she's really into that," Kagome said, amusement evident on her face.

"Those fangs are really strong compared to a human's teeth. She'll chew on a lot of things to keep them sharp. We should get her some leather," Inuyasha admitted.

"They are demon fangs, though, aren't they? She still has her demon power," Kagome mused. Inuyasha shrugged in response.

"No tellin' how long that'll last," he scowled.

"Well, now we have more incentive to figure out what's going on," she replied.

Kikyou made another distinctly dog-like squeal, and Inuyasha twitched. The moment wasn't lost on Kagome, and she reached out with her free arm and rested it on Inuyasha's knee.

"You're a great father, Inuyasha. You turned out wonderfully, and we'll raise Kikyou better, even if we both end up human."

'How did she know that's what I was worryin' about?' Inuyasha pondered, turning eyes widened in amazement on her to find she was once again distracted by their child in her arms.

**17**

The room was filled with the sound of heavy breathing as Inuyasha awakened, bare chest heaving and sweat trickling down his face as he sat upright. 'I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep after that,' he thought ruefully, resigning himself to another morning of being alone. Reflection on his nightmare was futile, as the images immediately scattered and dissipated, and he was left feeling empty and cold. Through the window, the stars were still visible in the sky, but faint hues of pink could be seen on the horizon.

Looking over at Kagome, Inuyasha wryly noted that once again, she'd managed to wrap the blankets into an impenetrable armor around herself. 'No way I'm gonna pry those off her. Guess I'll take a bath.' Climbing quietly out of bed, he stepped softly down the hall to poke his head into his daughter's room. Her breathing was deep and steady, and he smiled at her sleeping form. 'I never slept like that when I was young. Not even with mother.' He tiptoed back out, passed Souta's room, and made his way into the bathroom.

Flicking the switch, he was greeted by his early-morning visage in the mirror. His hair was darker now, the areas of black having spread from his temples to give his head an almost skunk-like silver stripe. The hair that was still silver was duller and prone to matting and tangling as he slept. 'I'm gonna have to cut it if this keeps up,' Inuyasha thought as he tried and failed to run his hands through it without getting knotted in the clumps. Opening his mouth, he prodded his fangs with his finger, noting their increasing dullness. 'I'm aging.' he realized as he took in some of the fine wrinkles developing around his violet eyes.

Turning to the bath, he twisted the knobs that started the water, finding a temperature that was lukewarm, and began to remove the hakama he wore at night. 'Violet eyes?' he suddenly realized, and lunged back toward the mirror to examine himself once again. Stunned by the sight, he stumbled over to the tub and lowered himself into the water, staring blankly into the distorted reflection of himself in the faucet.

'Okay. So my eyes are colored like my human ones. That's no problem, 'cause my sight wasn't any better than a human's anyway,' he rationalized as he soaked. 'But why is this happening to me? Wait, the shrine documents... Kagome's mom told me to check the shrine documents. Why have I not done that before now?' These questions cycled through his mind until a course of action was firmly in place. 'Time to wake Kagome. We're going to find out what's happening.'

Stepping out, he toweled off, donned his pants, and walked swiftly to Kagome's bedroom. He let the door slam against its jamb and picked the rest of his clothes off the floor, putting them on as well. As soon as all the ties were firmly in place, he glanced at the corner where Tessaiga rested. 'I have a mission for you, today,' Inuyasha thought as he took it from its spot.

--

Kagome's eyes opened, and she blinked against the sun, groaning in early morning misery. Sitting in the chair at her desk, Inuyasha watched her smugly, waiting a few moments between light pokes with the blade's sheath. Each jab roused her a little more, and finally she noticed the source of her discomfort, fixing him with a glare. She twisted and turned in her cocoon while grumbling cruel fantasies, but was unable to free herself. Her frustrated expression amused him greatly.

"Roll to the right, Kagome," he suggested, wincing as she lurched into the wall. "My right, idiot." An aggravated growl was his answer, and she continued to thrash around. "How'd ya even manage to do that?" he admired a few moments later.

Repeated contortions left her perpendicular on the bed, and she attempted to sit up, failing spectacularly as the weight of the blankets drove her back down and off the bed entirely. He snickered, and Kagome finally gave him a pleading look. Seconds later, he had the poor woman free from her soft prison and on her feet. She thanked him with a light kick to the shin.

"What was that for?" he asked, jumping back in surprise.

"For waking me up…with your sword…and then not even helping me out of bed, jerk" she replied.

"You didn't ask for any help."

"I shouldn't have to ask for everything."

"If you wouldn't hog all the blankets at night, you wouldn't end up like that."

Kagome gaped before growling in irritation. 'Ha! I won. This may not be such a bad day after all,' Inuyasha thought, a grin stretching his mouth.

"Why am I even awake at this hour, Inuyasha?" Kagome whined.

"I need your help to look through the old shrine papers to see if there's any reason this—" he held out some strands of his black hair as evidence, "has been happening to me."

"Inuyasha, I don't have time to help you with that this morning," she responded wearily. "I have to go to school. I will help you when I get back, I promise."

"Fine, but if you're late, I'm coming to get you, and I will do everything that annoys you in front of your friends," he retorted. She scowled but nodded, rolling herself back into her covers to return to sleep. Just as she seemed comfortable, the alarm went off. At her strangled yell, Inuyasha chose to make himself scarce.

Wandering into Kikyou's room, he crouched on the ground next to the futon his daughter used as a bed. Blankets were mounded up around the edges to form a makeshift barrier. A loud banging noise from Kagome's room caused the small girl's eyes to fly open, and her ears flicked upright as she looked around in momentary fear. Meeting Inuyasha's warm gaze, she smiled and giggled, reaching out to be picked up.

'Will her children have any youki?' he thought as he lifted her, carrying her downstairs to be fed. 'Will we live at all once our youki is gone,' he considered, shaking his head to rid himself of the idea.

"Gamaw!" Kikyou squealed as they entered the kitchen, where Kagome's mother was creating the day's lunches. Soup and rice were already sitting on the table, and Inuyasha's mouth watered at the scent. The grey-haired woman gave her granddaughter a smile.

"Good morning, Kikyou. Are you ready to eat?" she asked, receiving an excited nod.

Inuyasha sat down at the table, setting his daughter on his knee. 'I remember sitting on mother's lap like this when I was little,' he thought with a faraway look in his eyes. Shaking it off, he patiently fed Kikyou the soup while letting her pick the rice off the table herself. She insisted on dropping a grain in each spoonful of liquid before eating it. Keeping his eyes on the food to try and keep as much of it off him as possible, he pointedly ignored the satisfied, matronly staring of Kagome's mother. Before long, Kagome rushed down to grab her lunch, but stopped at the sight of her husband caring for their daughter. He blushed under the gaze of both of them.

Kissing him on the cheek on the way out the door, Kagome gazed lovingly into his eyes. The smile on her face remained, but her eyes saddened. 'She sees it,' he thought, struggling to think of something to say, but she leaned close to whisper in his ear, "I'll be back soon, and I'll show you how much I love purple." His cheeks tingled, and he gave her an appreciative smile. Mood lighter, Inuyasha spent the rest of the meal alternating between eating and feeding his daughter, until finally she wriggled, and he released her from his grasp.

"Play with me," she commanded running out the door with the awkward gait of one still unsure of her legs. The demand triggered one of Inuyasha's most powerful memories, and he painfully recalled a time when his repeated attempts to play ball with the village children ended in humiliating failure. Gritting his teeth against the unwanted remembrance, he followed her into the living room.

"Wait here, Kikyou," he commanded, and she stopped to look up at him with a pout. "We need something to play with," he added, and his spirit lifted when she smiled hopefully. Racing up the stairs, he burst into Souta's room, where the man was engrossed in another video game. Not even bothering with greetings, Inuyasha spied a soccer ball. 'This'll work,' he thought, grabbing it before bounding back down the stairs.

Kikyou stood up immediately on his return, her features alert and overjoyed to see the toy. 'Is that what I looked like?' Inuyasha thought. 'Those villagers were fucking assholes,' he decided as he led his daughter outside.

"Wanna learn how to play Kemari, Kikyou," he asked playfully. She laughed and nodded, and he dropped the ball and kicked it lightly up with his foot. "All you want to do is keep the ball in the air," he explained to her rapt attention.

It became apparent that she wasn't large enough to handle the ball yet, and they needed another one from Souta's room after they discovered that her claws were large enough to puncture it. Their play was reduced to rolling the ball across the ground, but they kept at it until the sun was nearly overhead, and Kikyou flopped over, tuckered out. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her back into the house and sat in the living room chair as she burrowed deeper into his suikan. Before long, her breathing became deep and steady, and he looked down on her with love. 'When Kagome gets back, we're gonna find out what's going on, and I'll make sure you're safe,' he promised himself, before letting himself drift off as well.

**18**

The sun beat down on the occupants of the shrine on the warm summer day. Inuyasha found himself squinting against the reflection of sunlight from the stone-covered grounds as he walked boxes from the shed to the storehouse. The pattern was the same: move a box in one direction, then while walking back to get the next one, attempt to peel his kosode off his skin. About a third of the way into the shed, he cursed as he noticed leak from the ceiling had soaked the base of several boxes.

"Shit!" Inuyasha swore when the bottom of one box fell out as he lifted it, dumping musty-smelling, yellowed paper on the floor. He squatted down with the box on his knees to gather them up, then paused. 'I'm supposed to be checking these. Why the fuck haven't I done this yet?" Pitching the decayed cardboard to one side, he scooped the documents into a sheaf and carried them outside to read.

Carefully examining the first sheet, he couldn't find anything he could understand. He flipped to the second, and it was the same. He began scanning pages faster and faster, but no characters were legible. 'Too damaged,' he thought, dropping them on the ground in disgust and racing into the shed. Finding a box that was dry, he tore it open to find various pieces of pottery and tossed it to the side with enough carelessness to ensure that the shrine suddenly had many more smaller pieces in its collection. A third revealed some papers. Again, he took them outside to read, and again he was unable. 'I can't make out the script. It must be too modern,' he thought. Back in the shed, a fourth box contained dried animal feet, which he unceremoniously dumped. A fifth held jewel replicas, which Inuyasha spilled on the floor—a mistake, as moments later he slipped on one. The shelves he grabbed as he fell were unable to support his weight, and collapsed atop him in a heap. Dazed, he pushed some of the wreckage away from his head and sat upright in time to see a shadow descend.

"Inuyasha. What are you doing in there?" Kagome demanded from the doorway.

"Daddy got a sit," the little girl in her arms sniggered.

Pulling himself from the debris, Inuyasha glowered at the pair. "I did not get sat." The expression on Kagome's face clearly indicated that could soon change, so he continued. "I'm looking for something in the shed to explain what's going on with my youki. We never got around to doing it," he said gruffly.

Kagome set Kikyou down on the ground and knelt beside her. "Go play outside for awhile, okay? Daddy and I need to talk," she said.

"Why?" the girl asked, ears twitching in curiosity.

"He made a big mess, and I need to talk to him like I talk to you when you make a mess," Kagome patiently responded, ignoring Inuyasha's pained groan.

"I don't like those talks," Kikyou responded and ran off on her little legs. Kagome bit her lower lip and her shoulders shook, and Inuyasha was grateful for the smile on her face as she finally turned her gaze to his form amidst the damage.

"Have you found anything?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha's expression soured. "There's a bunch of old paper, but I can't read any of it," he grumped. "It must use the new style of writing." He walked out past her and picked up a sheaf of papers from the third box, handing it to her. "See?"

Kagome scanned the first pages, and glanced up to give him a curious look. She flipped through the others, one eyebrow raising slowly. "Inuyasha. I can barely read these because they're all old. You should have no trouble with them."

He snatched the papers from her grasp and glanced at them again. "Are you playing a trick on me?" He waved the pages in the air. "This is crap. Ain't nobody who can read it."

"Do you know how to re—" Kagome began.

"Yes. I know how to read," Inuyasha interrupted. "I can't read this, though. Is this even Japanese?"

Kagome nodded in response, and moved to his side, pointing down at a point on the page. "See the characters for the date. These papers are nearly 400 years old."

"Well if you can read the date, why can't you read the rest of it?" he demanded.

"Because some characters are the same, but most aren't," she replied apologetically.

Inuyasha squinted at the text above her finger, and shook his head. "Why can't I read this? I'm not blind. I can read, dammit." Kagome's response was uncomfortable silence, and she wrapped her arms around his bicep. He shook her off to stalk back into the shed, and began throwing boxes out into the sun.

"Find what else in there is old," he yelled over the crashing noises.

Hours later, the courtyard was littered with artifacts, papers, and pieces of shredded cardboard. With a stricken look on his face, Inuyasha dropped the last of the parchments, letting it flutter to the ground beside him. "That's it. I can't read any of it. None of it."

"We can find someone who studies history, Inuyasha. They can read it. We'll find out why this happening," Kagome replied gently, lowering herself to sit at his side.

"No point. There's not supposed to be youkai in your time," he said dejectedly.

"It's our time, Inuyasha, and is that really so bad?" she inquired softly, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning into his arm. He turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye, noting how the black strands of his hair wove with hers.

"I won't be me anymore, Kagome," he responded almost inaudibly.

"You were willing to become human for Kikyou." Her quiet words brought his gaze to hers immediately, but there no recrimination or accusation in her expression.

"Kikyou needed me to become human, and I chose to do it, Kagome," he countered.

She nodded. "I know. It's just…well, assuming we can't figure out what's going on, it's not so bad. It was something you were willing to do at one point, and doing it here just means you're safer and with me," Kagome explained. The pages fluttered around them as the wind picked up, but neither made any move to catch them. "I'm with you because of who you are, Inuyasha. What you can do doesn't matter to me," she continued.

Inuyasha replied with silence, gripping one of her hands in his own as an answer. The sound of their daughter fussing was carried in the hot air, and he looked at Kagome, reluctant to end the moment.

"You go see her. I'll clean this up," Kagome said compassionately, gracing him with a smile.

A quick trip back into the house and a conversation with Kagome's mother revealed that Kikyou had bitten her tongue. 'When you've got fangs, that really hurts,' he thought with concealed amusement as he comforted her in his arms. He felt his own dulling fangs with his tongue, and a small grin crept onto his face. 'Maybe it ain't all bad, bein' human in this time,' he mused.

**19**

The looming grey clouds flashed with lightning as Inuyasha walked toward his daughter's school. 'This city ain't so loud now,' he thought as a work truck rumbled by. 'Ears aren't getting tired from flattenin' all day. The comin' rain ain't even buggin' me.' His step was light with self-satisfaction, and he spun the umbrella he carried in his hand idly as he crossed the busy roadway at the painted stripes and continued past a series of nondescript shops. Stopping to examine his reflection, he saw his hair was almost completely black now, with enough silver interwoven to make it shine in the light. This visage was blurred by circles of water against the glass as the rain began, and he continued on his way.

"Daddy!" came a shout from across the street.

'That can't be her,' he thought. 'She's supposed to be at school.' Nevertheless, Inuyasha turned to see his daughter running to meet him as fast as possible on her short legs. His stomach lurched with a sudden sense of foreboding as she jumped the curb, her yellow backpack jostling against her shoulders as she ran. The oil in the street mixed with the fresh rain formed a slick surface, and her legs slipped out from under her as she hit the pavement.

Landing on her back, Kikyou struggled against the backpack's weight to get to her feet. Screaming her name, Inuyasha sprinted to grab her even as the glow of lights from one of those things Kagome called a van illuminated her small form. The scene unfolded in slow motion, and Inuyasha's chest clenched when he realized he wouldn't be able to reach her in time. His heart broke at the inevitability of the tragedy, when he heard a loud squawk and the screeching of tires. Kikyou managed to lift herself to her feet in time to take the impact with a sickening crunch rather than being rolled over. Tossed to the side of the road, she lay there limply, blood already running from various places on her body by the time Inuyasha reached her side.

'Shit,what do I do? I don't know what to do!' he anguished as he gingerly lifted her into his arms. She was unconscious, and her breathing was steady but gurgled with the sound of fluid. 'Kagome would know what to do,' he thought. Looking around frantically, he tried to find someone who would help him, but the street had cleared. Even the van itself was gone. A movement caught his eye, and he looked to see a bird flutteringly limply along the ground toward one of the shops, leaving a sparse trail of feathers in its wake. 'What is with that crane?' As best he could with the load in his arms, Inuyasha ran after the injured waterfowl, frantically bursting through the door of the building. It was laid out identically to the shop where he'd ordered Kagome's ring, so he had no trouble finding the clerk.

"Call Kagome," Inuyasha shouted at the man behind the counter, who stared dispassionately. When the clerk was not quick to move, he found the bleeding girl thrust in his face almost as an offering. "Call Kagome now, or I'll kill you," he explained, baring his fangs to accentuate the threat. No further encouragement was needed, and the man immediately picked up the telephone and began punching numbers on the keypad. He held out the receiver to Inuyasha, who looked at it in frustration until he gently set the girl on the counter to take it. Duty done, the clerk disappeared into the back room.

"What's wrong, Inuyasha," Kagome's voice demanded.

"Kikyou's hurt. She was hit by a car and needs a healer," he responded, self-flagellation apparent in his voice.

"You can't run her to the hospital?" she asked.

"Not fast and not steady," Inuyasha admitted.

"Where are you?" she said.

Inuyasha looked around, trying to find something to distinguish the place from all the other seemingly identical shops located around the school. A fluttering caught his attention, and he noticed that the crane was awkwardly taking off and landing in short hopes outside the door. "The shop on the way to the school with the crazy bird in front of it," he answered.

"Okay." She took him at face value. "I'll get help and be there as soon as I can. In the meantime, just…take care of her." The phone disconnected with a click.

Inuyasha gathered his daughter to him, her body sliding easily on the blood-soaked counter, and waited for the rise and fall of her chest to cease. Each exhale, however, was followed by a ragged inhale as the minutes ticked by. The deafening shrill of sirens marked the approach of help, and white-clad men soon rushed inside, followed moments later by Kagome. He snarled as the men tried to take his daughter from his grasp, but Kagome's hand on his shoulder and a shake of her head quieted him.

"What are they doing to her?" Inuyasha asked her as they strapped her to the type of folding table he'd seen in his previous experiences in the modern era.

"They're just keeping her still so they can take her to the hospital," she replied quietly. "It's the building where Mayu's little brother was kept," she added.

"I'm going with her," Inuyasha demanded.

"No, you can't," Kagome replied. Inuyasha looked ready to argue, but she continued softly, "Just let them to do their job. They'll do everything they can for her."

Letting his arms fall limply to his sides, he sighed in defeat, and she wrapped her arms around him and began to cry into the front of his suikan. He held her for a while, and then gently guided the way out the door into the now-pouring rain. "Can we go to the hospital?" he asked, and Kagome nodded.

Both were dripping wet by the time they arrived at the white medical center. Kagome spoke with the receptionist at the front of the building, and then led Inuyasha into an elevator and up to a private room. Looking inside, Inuyasha was greeted by the sight of his daughter, bandaged and intubated, and his breath hitched.

"It's okay, Inuyasha," Kagome comforted. "She's going to be okay. These things happen. It wasn't your fault."

"If I still had all my youki, I could've grabbed her," he retorted angrily as he stood by her bedside, fists clenched in frustration.

"You don't have all your youki anymore, Inuyasha, and you can't blame yourself for losing it," she patiently replied.

His self-loathing didn't abate as he watched his daughter through the mass of tubing, but he nodded approvingly as the edges of her unbandaged scratches could be seen visibly knitting.

'The hell I can't.'

**20**

Low-hanging grey clouds draped across the sky, and howling winds forced Inuyasha from his normal treetop perch near Souta's old school, where Kikyou attended. Instead, he stood overlooking the edge of the rooftop, waiting for his daughter. He pulled his suikan around himself and moved behind the shed housing the door as protection as he engaged the school's clock in a staring contest.

Eventually, his daughter's distressed voice shook him from planning his descent, since jumping was now out of the question. Dropping to a windowsill, he made his way along the stone edgework of the building toward a nearby tree branch. In the schoolyard, he could see and hear Kikyou engaged in a shouting match with three boys: a tall, dark-haired one, a reedy, younger one, and an angry, fat one.

"There's nothing wrong with how I look. My mommy says I'm beautiful," she argued, her clawed hands gripping a stack of books to her uniform—a miniature version of Kagome's—as if she was afraid they'd be taken.

"What does your mom know? She married a freak," the largest of the group shouted back.

Inuyasha's ears lowered to match his daughter's at the taunting. Jumping to the tree, he watched from the lowest branch…ready to intervene if necessary.

"You look like a cat," the youngest added, stepping back towards the first boy as he did so.

'Look at the way he hides behind the big one. I bet he'd keep his trap shut if it was just the two of 'em,' Inuyasha thought in outrage as he watched.

"I'm not a cat. I'm part dog," Kikyou protested.

'No, no, no,' Inuyasha thought, unable to stop his eyes from rolling at the defense.

"So that means you're a bitch," the sneering, pudgy boy reasoned as he picked up a rock and tested its weight in his hands. Inuyasha had seen enough, and jumped from the tree, landing behind the youths with a grunt. Turning towards the sound, they were faced with a snarling hanyou, and none of them wasted any time before fleeing in terror.

Inuyasha chuckled, then walked over to his daughter, whose eyes were fixed on the ground. Once he was close enough, he could smell the tears threatening to fall… no, falling from her eyes. Taking a deep breath, he put a hand on her shoulder and tried to think of something useful to say. "Keh. You can't be weak, or they ain't gonna stop teas-" he attempted, before being interrupted.

"Why do I have ears different from everyone else?" Kikyou asked.

'How has this not come up before?' he wondered in surprise, before giving her a convincing grin. "You got your ears from me, and I got 'em from your grandpa. They're a sign that you're part demon," he explained.

Her watery eyes met his. "How come mommy doesn't have them?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Your mom is human," he replied.

"Then how come I'm not human?" she inquired, her eyebrows furrowed in consternation and her ears perked upright in curiosity.

'She's adorable,' Inuyasha reflected even as he tried to remain focused on the task at hand. "You are human. You're also demon. You're a little bit of both, like me," he mused.

"Why do the other kids tease me?" she asked, getting a derisive snort in reply.

"They're just afraid of you because you're different. That's why they always attack in packs, because they want to feel safe," he mused.

"Different how?" she wondered aloud.

"Better different."

She looked up at him with her doe-eyes. "How am I better?"

He smiled, showing off his fangs as well as his claws. "Well, for one, they don't have these, so they can't protect themselves as well as we can. We heal a lot faster, like you did after your accident, and we're a lot stronger," he boasted, before his face grew more serious. "That's why we've got to be careful not to hurt them. It just proves 'em right. As much as I can't believe I'm saying this, when you're so much stronger than someone else, sometimes it's braver to run away. We've gotta be around to protect your mom."

"Why are there only humans around? Why are there no other demons?" The sniffling had completely stopped as she focused on learning. Eerily, she was asking the same questions he had been asking himself.

'Why are there no other demons? Five hundred years ago, you couldn't get rid of them, but now it's just me and Kikyou. Everything has been brought from the past or powered by the jewel. I'm glad we got rid of the damn thing, so we don't constantly have to be killing stupid demons.' At the last thought, Inuyasha's eyes widened, and he replayed it in his mind, then replayed it again.

"Daddy, are you okay," Kikyou asked.

"Hang on," he replied. 'No demons now, but there were then. No jewel now, but there was then. I had all my power when there was the jewel, but I don't… and there's no jewel.'

"I've got it," he whispered almost to himself. Crouching down, he gestured to his back, "C'mon, Kikyou. We've gotta get back to the shrine."

"What's going on?"

"I'll explain on the way. Hurry, let's go." She climbed onto his back, and he was thankful she was still as small as she was and not carrying the same size pack Kagome used to. Setting off for the shrine at a brisk jog, he smiled as she buried her face in the back of his neck to protect herself from the late-autumn air. He was happy to have a family, and having a little girl that trusted him so much brought him an indescribable feeling of contentment. He was happy, and that filled him with dread. "Kikyou, I'll tell you soon as I…"

**21**

Inuyasha's eyes shot open to meet the brown-tiled ceiling of Kagome's bedroom, while she lay against him, twirling his dark hair around her fingers. Without preamble, he lifted his legs into the air then curled his back sharply to hurl himself off the bed and too his feet. The late evening sun cast the sky outside in orange hues, and he ignored Kagome's surprise as he looked out the window to where Kikyou was jumping against a freshly-blooming tree outside, springing backward off of it.

'She's training. That's what I wanted her to be doing, but I don't remember telling her to do so,' he mused as he tried to order the jumble his thoughts had become. He sprinted for the door, only to be brought up short by Kagome's voice.

"What's going on, Inuyasha?" she asked.

"I just wanna go see Kikyou," he replied as he looked back over his shoulder.

"Without pants?" she asked.

Grunting in acknowledgement, he grabbed his hakama and hopped awkwardly out into the hallway as he tugged them on. Moments later, he burst back through the door, now fully clad from the waist down. "Actually, I wanna talk to you," Inuyasha said, not meeting her eyes as he walked back to the window.

Kagome looked as if she was about to say something, but chose to remain silent. Standing, she wrapped herself in the sheet and moved to stand by Inuyasha's side. Outside, their daughter was laughing as she chased pigeons, but a wistful sigh counteracted that happy noise.

"I think I know why my demon power is fading, Kagome," he admitted quietly. Wrapping one arm around his in silent support, his wife leaned into him even as he continued to stare out the window. "There are no demons in this time, and something must have happened to them. If humans had hunted them all down, you'd know about it from those history books you're always readin'," he reasoned.

"You think something more powerful killed them?" she asked.

"No. Well, yes, but not what you're thinkin'," he answered. "I don't think some monster came down and ate 'em all or nothin', but…well, have you ever wondered why demons and humans can breed?"

"Well, no, but now I'm fascinated."

"You never see wolf-demons mating with panther-demons, or horse-demons with bat-demons, but you do sometimes see them getting together with humans. That's gotta mean humans and demons have some kind of…fit…that demons don't have with each other," he reasoned. She nodded against his shoulder.

"You know youki and reiki are different, right. Demons use youki, and some humans can use reiki—like you and Miroku. They're spiritual powers. If a human gets hit with youki, they'll die, but that's just because humans are fragile. Anything kills 'em. Demons are tough, though. A demon's youki makes 'em stronger and faster—harder to kill. Hit a demon with reiki, though, and it's fucked. There's just something about reiki that hurts youki," he continued.

"But if reiki is more powerful than youki, why can't humans do things like change into giant poison-drooling dogs," Kagome asked as she pulled away to look at him curiously.

"It ain't that reiki is more powerful; it's just different. Humans can go their entire life and not use any reiki. In a whole village, there's usually only one priestess, and some smaller settlements have to depend on traveling monks. Spiritual powers that are strong enough to stand up to youki are pretty rare. For demons, it's different. Every demon knows how to use their youki. It's just a part of who they are. "

"I don't see where you're going, Inuyasha."

"I'm just guessin' here. I wish my bastard brother was here for this next part, though." He sucked in a deep breath before continuing. "I think demons are really humans."

Kagome took a step back as if physically pushed by the assertion. "What? What makes you think that? Demons seem more related to animals than humans."

"It could be a long time ago, some humans figured out how to use youki. They traded away their reiki to get more power, and they became taiyoukai."

"That's, uh, interesting, but what does it have to do with you?" she replied skeptically.

"Listen. Demons can mate with humans because they're still human enough, but they can't get back the reiki they gave up all those years ago. They gotta have youki to survive. Reiki is sustained by the human soul, but if demons are really human, then youki has to be sustained by somethin' else…and I think we broke that something else," he concluded.

"But there's been youki in the present. You still have some of your powers, and Kikyou still has some of her powers. The mushroom demons were fine here. So was the Noh mask!" Kagome argued.

"A river doesn't dig a canyon in a day, Kagome. It takes some time. Without whatever it is that sustains youki, demonic power just erodes away. It's been too slow to notice on my visits here when we were collecting the shards, and we always had shards with us anyway."

"So what do you think we did?" Kagome asked.

"This is where I get confused. It's possible the jewel may have been the source, but I know the jewel was created after there were demons. Maybe it absorbed whatever it was from the youkai who ate Midoriko, or maybe it's something else entirely, but I think I'm losing my power because whatever creates youki is gone."

"So there's nothing we can do?" she wailed in dismay. "You're just going to be slowly worn down?"

Inuyasha let out a deep breath and dragged her back against him, kissing the top of her head. "I didn't say nothing like that. If all we need's a source, maybe we can find one. If not, don't worry about it. It won't be so bad. I can adapt to anything."

Fisting her hands against his chest, she sniffed mournfully. "It's not like you to talk about losing, Inuyasha."

"In my life, I've learned you don't get everything you want. Since meeting you, Kagome, I've come pretty close," he mused. She choked out a snuffling chuckle and pulled back to look him in the face.

"That…was beautiful, Inuyasha. You don't have to pretend everything's okay, though. You can be upset," she said.

"It's kind of a relief. I won't be here forever after you die," he reasoned. Running a hand across her face, he noticed the new lines that had formed and brushed some grey hair away from her temples. This was obviously a step backwards in terms of comforting, because she burst into tears, sobbing into his chest. As she cried against him, he continued to watch Kikyou play, and couldn't help the buildup of moisture in his own eyes. Kagome managed to strangle out his concern before he could voice it himself.

"What about Kikyou?"

"I'll make sure to be there for her as long as she needs me, somehow. We won't let her have the same childhood I did. If we can't find a way to power youki, then she'll become mortal and fit in. If we can, then we'll all be together forever. Trust me. I'll protect us. You're stuck with me forever."

**22**

"Ow, dammit!" Inuyasha shouted before sucking his finger into his mouth. "Fuggin paber cud me," he complained.

"Inuyasha, you can't fold ten of them at a time," Kagome scolded as she delicately ran the pad of her finger along a crease in a colorful sheet of paper. "Of course you're going to get a paper cut."

"Twenty-five steps for each of these things? There's gotta be a way to do it faster," Inuyasha complained, shaking his finger out before trying to untangle a jumble of multicolored scraps.

"The point isn't to make them as fast as you can. Take the time to do it right," she retorted, her eyes never leaving the work in front of her.

"I'm with you," Souta quietly said, earning his own caustic look from Kagome. Inuyasha grinned in response.

The kitchen table was covered with a rainbow of stationary squares, most still flat on the surface, others crumpled up, and fewer still in the recognizable shape of a bird. The finished cranes were lined up neatly to one side. Inuyasha hunched over, keeping one folded bit of paper at eye level as he attempted to pinch together the part that would be the head…succeeding only in mangling it beyond recognition. He sighed and leaned back from the table, crossing his arms over his suikan-clad chest. "I don't see how a thousand paper birds is gonna make her any better," he grumped.

"Inuyasha," she scolded in her Warning Voice. "She's your mother, too, and this will show her how much we care."

"If she doesn't realize we care by now, she's pretty stupid," he mumbled back, but dropped is elbows back onto the table in defeat when she fixed him with a glare. He was just folding another square into a triangle when the creaking and banging of someone coming down the stairs in a hurry caught his attention.

"I've got more paper," Kikyou cheerfully announced as she bounded into the room, dropping another pile of neatly stacked sheets in between her parents before turning on one heel to sit next to her mother. Her thick, waist-length braid flew up with the speed of the motion and grazed Inuyasha's forehead.

"Oi, watch it. You're gonna brain someone with that thing someday," he complained.

"Well, it'd have to be someone with a brain," she teased back, plopping down in her chair and rejoining the assembly line.

"Show your old man some respect, whelp," he scolded. Kagome's giggling completely undermined his reprimand, and a ball of paper bounced off her nose in retaliation.

"C'mon, you two," Kikyou chided primly, staving off the certain battle. "We've gotta do this for Grandma. If Uncle Souta can pause his game to fold some cranes, we can too."

Souta looked up from crushing the head of an innocent paper fowl with his oversized fingers to playfully kick at her under the table, but his heart didn't seem in it. The hope in her voice cast a somber veil over the adults at the table, and they resumed their origami in silence, Kagome methodically producing a neat crane every few minutes, and Inuyasha occasionally succeeding in some vaguely-avian deformity that was added to the pile. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he caught a wince from his daughter.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Grandma's coughing again," she sadly reported. "It sounds worse than before."

"Well, why don't you take her some tea?" Kagome suggested, placing one hand over hers. Kikyou was silent for a moment, and both parents picked up on her hesitation. "You don't want to?" Kagome asked.

"I…I don't like to see her like that," Kikyou admitted. "She's so weak, and sometimes I don't think she remembers me. When's she gonna get better?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, but keep praying, and hopefully it'll be soon," Kagome replied quietly. "She loves you very much, and I'm sure she wants nothing more than to be here with you." Kikyou nodded, but continued to stare at the work in front of her, and an awkward silence filled the room.

"I'll take it to her," Inuyasha volunteered, earning surprised looks from the two women. "The tea?" he added at their confusion.

"That's really nice, Inuyasha," Kagome said with a smile, standing to prepare a tray.

"I'm just tired of foldin' those damn birds," he scoffed, looking away. After a few minutes, his arms were laden with a cup and a kettle, and he climbed the stairs, his honed sense of balance keeping everything in order. Pushing through the door into Mama Higurashi's room, the smell of impending death immediately assaulted his nose. Trying hard to keep a look of pity off his face, he made his way to the chair that sat by her bedside.

"Tea, Inuyasha? That's lovely," the elderly woman said with a smile, a few small coughs interrupting the flow of her gravelly voice.

'This is gonna be Kagome,' Inuyasha thought, his heart dropping in his chest as he took in the almost translucent skin and shriveled muscles of his mother-in-law. Moving a hand behind her white-haired head, he helped her to sit upright and situated the tray in her lap.

"So how is everything?" she asked, her attitude still sunny despite her condition.

"Fine, I s'pose," he responded awkwardly, unable to meet her eyes.

"I'm glad you came up here. I've been meaning to talk to you," she kindly said, even as sadness filled her eyes. "Look at me, please," she quietly ordered. Inuyasha caught her gaze, recoiling slightly at the intensity in it, but the old woman gave him a reassuring smile.

"You've always protected Kagome, Inuyasha. I knew almost from the moment we met that you were the one for my daughter, and that you'd look after her and take care of her." Tears filled the woman's eyes as she spoke. "And I just wanted to thank you…thank you for all that you've done and tell you that you need to protect yourself."

"Protect myself from what?" he asked. She coughed and didn't respond until she'd taken a few sips of tea to settle her voice.

"From your heart. I've loved watching Kagome grow up, but I haven't seen you get much older. I treasure my daughter, but I know that one day her time on earth will end. I know she'll be fine, but I worry about you. I want you to be happy," she explained.

"How can I be happy after Kagome's gone?" Inuyasha demanded, standing from his seat with an incredulous expression.

"Kagome will never leave you, just like I will never leave you. The people you love can look after you even when they're gone. You have a beautiful daughter who needs you. You have the shrine. You have a future. You can't give in to despair," she pleaded.

"Who said anythin' about despair? I don't need to think about the future. There's gotta be a way to keep her with me forever," he retorted.

"You always have to think about the future, Inuyasha. No matter how much it hurts or how bad it gets, you must persist." Another bout of coughing ended her speech, and she finished her tea with shaking hands before slumping back against the pillows. "We all love you, Inuyasha. You have to persist," she repeated quietly before slipping off into sleep.

'Persist against what?' Inuyasha thought scornfully as he watched her breathing slow into a steady, rasping rhythm.

**23**

A sound like thick elastic bands stretching pained Inuyasha as Kagome squatted down to pick up a bag. An audible pop from her left knee as she stood caused a wince, and he looked into her weathered face with a dry expression. "You can ask me to pick stuff up, y'know."

"Once I let you start treating me like glass, you'll never stop," she retorted teasingly, loading the refrigerator with food. She squeaked as strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back against a warm chest.

"You're far more precious to me than glass, Kagome," Inuyasha said seductively, gently nipping her ear before freeing the pink-cheeked woman. "So what are we eating for dinner?"

She growled playfully in response. "You were just being sweet to get ramen. Well, sorry to disappoint, but I got all the stuff I need to make chazuke."

Instead of looking dismayed, Inuyasha leaned against the counter on one arm, crossing one leg behind the other. "Except rice," he said smugly.

"What?" Kagome asked.

"You got everything except rice, Kagome," he repeated in the midst of chuckling. Skeptical, she sifted through the rest of the bags and through the contents of the refrigerator and pantry, but she was forced to admit defeat. Glaring, she fished a menu from a small stack on the counter and tossed it to Inuyasha.

"What's this?" he inquired.

"It's a menu. It looks like you're gonna get your wish after all, so pick what you want for dinner," she replied as she walked to a window to use the fading light of the sun to make her own selection.

He glanced down at the pamphlet in his hand, and his mouth watered at the pictures of steaming bowls of flavored noodles. The text, however, was just a blur of random symbols and shapes; finally, he snorted in frustration. "Why can't we just eat the normal shit?" he asked.

"Because as appetizing as that sounds, we have as much of that as we have rice," she answered exasperatedly. "This is the good stuff, Inuyasha. You'll enjoy it."

Not wanting to point at a picture like some illiterate peasant, he settled for scoffing as he tossed the offending paper onto the counter. "You know what I like by now. Just order a lot of that."

"So I get to pick for everyone?" she asked.

"It's not like you had a problem picking for everyone when you thought we had rice," he countered.

Rolling her eyes, she sighed and picked up the phone to make the call, and he wandered out to see what was on television, cursing as he tripped over Kikyou's jacket, which she'd gracelessly tossed on the floor. Stumbling, he came face to face with the little household shrine, where pictures of the old man and Kagome's mother and even the long-dead cat stared back at him. 'I wonder what this'll look like thirty years from now?' he thought, but his descent into melancholy was short-lived as the front door slid open with such a loud bang that the rice-paper panel jumped in its groove.

"I'm back," Kikyou called as she entered the house. Inuyasha couldn't help the nostalgia he felt looking at her. At her age, with her giant overstuffed bag and her school uniform, she was the spitting image of Kagome when they first met, save the inhuman ears. His daughter smirked like her namesake, never showing her fangs, and her claws were nearly passable for human. He smiled wistfully as she breezed by to jabber at Kagome about her day. Inuyasha recalled his memories from her life: her birth, chewing on his ears, her near brush with death, the pressure of dealing with other school kids…

So lost was he in his reverie, that it seemed no time had passed at all before a rap on the door signaled the arrival of the food. Inuyasha headed for the entryway, but Kagome raced from the kitchen at a semi-jog to grab the bags from the surprised deliveryman and dart back into the kitchen. "Dinner'll be ready in just a minute, Inuyasha," she said in a sing-song voice over the sound of rustling plastic. "Get Souta."

"Oi, runt!" Inuyasha shouted up the stairs. "Food's ready!"

"I'll be down in a minute," a deep baritone yelled from above. "I have to get to a save point."

"Dad, some of us would like to hear when we're older," Kikyou simultaneously called out from the kitchen. Inuyasha's stomach dropped at the slight, and it only made things worse when he heard Kagome scold his daughter for her insensitivity. 'At least she takes my side now,' he thought as he remembered similar annoyances from a particular fox kit.

Walking into the kitchen, the sight and smell of steaming bowls of ramen greeted him. A large serving was at the seat he usually took, and he sat down, looking around the room expectantly. Kagome seemed to be struggling against some vast source of amusement, and he scowled at her delay in coming to eat. To his surprise, she waved at him and said, "Oh, go ahead and start, Inuyasha. I'll get Souta and Kikyou set up in the meantime."

Not having to be told twice, he dug into the ramen, savoring the slick noodles and salty broth. It was a flavor he'd never had before, and it gave him a comfortably warm feeling on his tongue. After a time, he realized that his wife and child were both staring at him with looks of complete surprise.

"What?" Inuyasha asked irritatedly.

"How's your ramen?" Kagome answered with a question of her own.

Inuyasha shoveled another cluster of noodles into his mouth and talked around them. "It's great. We need more of this flavor," he replied with satisfaction.

"Do you know what flavor that is, dad?" Kikyou asked in astonishment.

"No."

"It's a spicy curry blend. The stuff Hokkaido is famous for," she said as if it was obvious. "Mom got it for you because you ran your mouth at her somehow."

The movements of Inuyasha's jaw slowed to a stop as he let the broth continue to sit on his tongue. Thinking about it, flavor-wise it was like the curry he'd had in the past, but this wasn't causing the agonizing pain. Pushing the bowl to the side, he stood up in a rush and walked swiftly to Kagome, who backed away in expectation of revenge. Inuyasha simply buried his nose in her hair and sniffed up and down the side of her face, taking long, deep drags of air that wheezed with their force. He could still smell her, but many of the nuances and undertones that made her his Kagome were gone. It was as if she'd been replaced by some mediocre doppelganger.

"What's going on?" a deep voice interrupted.

The women looked expectantly at Inuyasha for answers, but he just shook his head at the middle-aged man who was technically his younger brother-in-law. "Nothing. We're just sittin' down for chow. Get some food and start eatin' it," he said gruffly, walking toward the door leading to the outside.

"Are you going to finish?" Kagome called after him.

"Not hungry," he shouted back, storming towards the Goshinboku. Out of habit, he crouched in preparation to jump into the tree before remembering he couldn't do that anymore, and with muttered curses, he sat on a bench under the swaying branches instead. The light on the horizon had faded to an orange glow, and stars were visible in the sky. Instead of quiet appreciation for the beauty around him, Inuyasha found himself more interested in mentally raging at whatever creator was responsible for it. He focused his fury on the well-house in the distance.

'Couldn't let me know this was gonna happen before I came here, could you. You took away my sense of smell, you bastard. What's next? Gonna blind me? Gonna make me mute? Not gonna let me taste the ramen at all?'

**24**

The bedsprings squeaked in protest as Inuyasha jerked upright in bed, sweat shining in the early morning light as he gasped for breath. Closing his eyes, he tried to calm himself, listening for Kagome's heartbeat next to him…but there was nothing. An icy feeling spread through his stomach, and he looked over her still form. Panicking, he shook her roughly until she flipped over with a groan and gave him an angry, bleary glare.

"What?" she asked tiredly. Suddenly embarrassed, Inuyasha struggled for a way to explain what had just happened and chose to go with his favorite standby: denial.

"You're bein' lazy. It's time to get up," he answered. Rolling her eyes, Kagome flopped over on her side and snuggled back into the covers. Inuyasha thought he was getting away with being ignored, but a sleepy word quietly uttered from her lips forced him down against his side of the bed with great force. This turned out to be a less spectacular plan than expected, as a resounding crack marked the end of the wood supports on his side, and both of them found themselves unceremoniously dumped onto the floor.

"I'm up now," Kagome sighed, though she lay in limp defeat atop Inuyasha's prone form. He was puzzled by the quiet. He could hear the sound of the air cooler rattling, the chirping of birds outside, and the breathing of Kagome and himself, but the usual cacophony of sound wasn't there. Shaking his head in an attempt to rattle out whatever was obstructing his ears, he finally extricated his arm to reach up and dig around inside one.

To his confusion, there was nothing but hair. He patted around, finally resorting to all-out rubbing of his head as if he was shampooing, but the ears weren't there. With a yelp of surprise, he pushed himself up, letting Kagome slide off him, and made his way to the mirror. Staring back at him was a grey-and-black haired human with a few odd characteristics. His ears were those of his human self, and his eyes were violet, though with slitted pupils. Most people would describe his fangs as sharp canines, instead of the mark of something superhuman.

Kagome picked herself up off the ground, and he could see her concern in the mirror. Realizing she could see him as well, he tried to adopt a neutral expression but failed. "What's wrong, Inuyasha?" she asked, verbal momentum carrying her through the question even as she realized what had happened. She approached slowly and reached up to brush away some of the hair around his human ears. "Oh," she said simply, her expression disappointed to a degree he hadn't seen since her mother and grandfather died. She stood there for a moment, then buried herself against his back and drew him into as tight of a hug as she could manage. "Oh, Inuyasha, it's okay. It'll be okay."

Kagome's big heart was a mixed blessing. Much of the time, it made him feel warm, and loved and he couldn't imagine his life without her. Sometimes, like now, she managed to drive the icicles even deeper into his heart. By himself, he might have been able to wall the loss up, but with the pain evident on her face, there was no way he could hide from it. 'I guess I should face it,' he thought with a sigh.

"There's not gonna be a forever, Kagome," he said sadly. "I'm not gonna be able to keep you with me."

"What do you mean? I'll always be with you," she said into his back. He had to turn his head slightly to pick up her words, and that rubbed salt into the wound.

"My youki….there's not going to be enough to keep you with me, even if we found a way to do it." He could hear the sorrow in his own voice, and braced himself from what would come from it. Sure enough, he could feel a warm wetness on his back. She managed to grip him even tighter, and held him there.

Finally, Kagome managed to say, quietly but with a minimum of hitching. "It's okay. It's…I've always known we weren't going to be immortal together, but I do know that we'll always be together. Even when I die, I will continue to love you with everything that I am. You've made my life better and better every day you've been in it. If I had it to do it again, I wouldn't change anything. Nothing."

Inuyasha turned around and tucked her into his chest, returning her hug. "I know you always loved the ears," he admitted.

"I've always loved your ears because they could hear me whenever I needed you. They could hear my heart beat faster when I look at you." His cheeks reddened at the words as she continued. "And as long as you're with me, your human ears are fine, because you can still hear me when I need you. You'll just have to stay closer now, is all."

Inuyasha managed a wan chuckle at the declaration. "I know you thought they were cute." It was Kagome's turn to redden. She leaned up on her toes and lightly nipped at his earlobe, causing a shiver to run through his body.

"I think these ears are pretty cute, too," she replied.

The pounding of his heart was almost in tune with the vibrations in the floor. 'Wait. The floor's vibrating?' Suddenly, the door burst open to reveal the angry face of his teenage daughter.

"I knew you were awake in here," she growled. "I've been calling for you, but obviously you've had been things to do. Anyway, Uncle Souta has been making breakfast, so we'll all get to eat that now," she fumed.

Kagome disengaged herself from Inuyasha and rushed out the door as the smell of burnt everything wafted into the room. Kikyou's mouth curved into a smug smile at Kagome's obvious panic, and she turned her attention to her father. "Really. Why didn't you answer me?"

Recognizing the futility of hiding his condition, Inuyasha deflated. "I couldn't hear you," he admitted, pointing at his now human ears with both hands. Her stunned expression was proof enough that she was no longer angry, and he gestured for her to sit on the bed.

"What did you do to the bed?" she asked incredulously as her gaze settled on the broken frame.

"Your mom just wanted to play rough this morning," Inuyasha replied as he pulled Kagome's desk chair out for her to sit in and awkwardly eased himself onto the edge of the diagonally leaning structure.

"Far too much information," she groaned, flopping into the proffered chair. Inuyasha shook off his confusion at her reaction and looked down at the ground with a deep sigh, unsure of where to begin.

"My demon power is fading, Kikyou," he admitted quietly. "I think that in the past somethin' used to sustain youki, but it's gone now, and I'm slowly becoming human."

"So your hair color really isn't some misguided dye-job?" she asked in the dry wit she had developed.

"No. I've been losin' by smell and hearing slowly," Inuyasha replied.

"What makes you think you need something to sustain your youki?" Kikyou asked skeptically. Inuyasha explained about how humans and demons sometimes mate, but different types of demons didn't, and how demon energy must be different from human energy, and through the entire discussion, the look on her face became more and more disbelieving until finally she erupted into laughter.

"Dad. My youki is fine," she said, holding up her fingers. "I didn't lose any power at all since I was born."

"Well, it's really slow and hard to notice," he defended. "If ya didn't lose any of your power, then maybe you're somehow shielded when you're a kid."

"Maybe, but now you're just saying things to explain what you don't understand. It's possible the problem is just with you, because I'm fine," she replied, her amusement soon replaced by a look of concern. "I've seen that you've been getting slower and more human, and I don't know why, and it's bothered me. I've never said anything about it because I know how you are about seeming weak." Kikyou fixed him with the piercingly wise stare of her namesake and her tone grew very soft. "I love you, Dad, and I want to know what's going on as well. I'll try and help you out, but I think you're going to find the problem lies within." Her ears twitched and she stood up. "Mom's got breakfast ready. Let's go eat. We'll talk more about it later." With one final, worried look she walked out of the room, leaving him to consider her words.

'Why would it just be me?'

**25**

Inuyasha's knees hurt from kneeling for the past ten minutes, but the black-haired man in front of him just keep stammering and winding his way around the issue at hand. "We ain't got all day, kid. Out with it," he demanded impatiently, just causing his guest to focus his gaze on his teacup. A growl grew in Inuyasha's chest, but a firm grip on his knee from an also-kneeling Kagome soothed his temper.

"It's alright. You can ask us anything. We won't bite," she said reassuringly, even as she shot her husband a stern look at the last.

"Well, uh…you know that Kikyou and I have been seeing each other for awhile now. And, uh, we've been getting along great, and I've been treating her really well."

"Damn straight you've been treatin' her well. If you haven't been they'd be looking for your body," Inuyasha snarled, yelping as Kagome applied kneecap-crushing force with her palm. The young man paled and the stammering increased.

"I'm here to ask for your blessing in marrying her," he finally managed to choke out.

"What!" Inuyasha shouted at the same time that Kagome squealed in happiness and clapped her hands together. Both rocketed to their feet, but Kagome was faster and bounded over to clasp his hands in hers.

"Oh, that is fantastic! Of course you have our blessing. Inuyasha, isn't this wonderful?" She turned to hug her confused husband, hopping slightly. "Our little girl is getting married!" Returning her attention to the man who wore an expression of giddy relief, she attacked him with affection once again. "Welcome to the family. I can't believe this. I'm so excited. Aren't you excited, Inuyasha?" she asked, looking back at him expectantly.

"Who the fuck is this guy?" he demanded. The expression on Kagome's face made it immediately clear that this was not the right question to ask, and he started backing away as Kagome told the man that they needed to have a private talk. Inuyasha held his hands up in a gesture of reconciliation as she stormed toward him, fists clenched at her sides.

"I know you want to pull the overprotective father act, but Kikyou has been raving about this young man for a long time, and it's going to make her happy, and I don't need you to screw it up," she said, her voice harsh as she jabbed a finger at him.

"But I…" he protested.

"I don't want to hear it. They're in love with each other, and you're going to give this your blessing," Kagome interrupted.

"But…"

"Do you have some sort of problem with him? Give me one specific reason you have for being a pain about this," she demanded.

"I don't know the guy," Inuyasha replied.

"You should have been paying better attention, then," she hissed. "What would you need from him, anyway?"

"As long as he knows what will happen to him if he hurts her in any way, I don't care," he admitted.

"Well, I think you can make that clear. Now he's more nervous than ever, so you're going to go over there and put him at ease," she ordered. He opened his mouth to protest, but The Look silenced him, and he tilted his head to the side in submission. Kagome wheeled back around, and a smile was back on her face. "Do you have a ring for her, yet? Oh, I want to see the ring," Kagome said sweetly.

The young man blushed. "No…I haven't bought a ring yet. I wanted…uh, I wanted to get your blessing first."

'Here's my way out,' Inuyasha thought, and chipped in, "If you want a jewel, I can make you a jewel. Come with me." He grabbed the Tessaiga from its mount on the wall, and the man backed up toward the wall, a look of terror on his face. "I'm not gonna cut you, kid…as long as you treat my daughter right," Inuyasha explained. "Now come on."

He proceeded out into the courtyard as the man followed at great distance with a look of confusion. Inuyasha shook his head at the man's terror. 'At least Kikyou's got someone who'll accept her, though, even if he's a wimp,' he reasoned. 'They'll have to stay around, though, since he can't protect her.'

"What are we doing out here," the man asked, interrupting his train of thought.

"I'm gonna make you a jewel," Inuyasha answered matter-of-factly. "Now stand back…er, well, just stay where you are. No sense hurtin' you when Kikyou finds you useful for somethin'."

'I can kill two birds with one stone, here. I can get Kagome off my back by helpin' em out, and this'll let him know what I'll do to 'em if he screws up.'

Removing the sword from its sheath, he gripped it in both hands, raising it high over his head. "Kongosouha!" he shouted as he brought it down in a wide arc, and it clanged against the ground like a soda can bouncing off concrete. Nothing happened.

Nothing happened.

Looking back at the untransformed blade in confusion, Inuyasha furrowed his brows. He repeated the action with the same result.

"What are you trying to do with that," the man asked with some curiosity.

"I'm trying to make a jewel," Inuysaha shouted in anger, driving his timid future son-in-law back. Kagome, who had obviously been watching through the window, emerged from the house at that moment to whisper something in the man's ear. He nodded and eagerly darted away, and Kagome approached Inuyasha with pity written on her face.

"You can't get Tessaiga to transform?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Another way to protect you—gone," he answered numbly, his voice filled with pain. He stepped away from Kagome and raised the sword again, calling for his cutting wind, his gateway to hell, and even his ability to slice barriers, but nothing happened. The sword remained a dulled, chipped stick of metal, and he let it clatter to the stone grounds of the shrine just in time for Kagome to throw her arms around him in a hug.

"It's alright, Inuyasha. We're safe here. We don't need the Tessaiga to protect us as long as we have you."

There was no response from Inuyasha. His stomach felt as if a black hole had taken up residence, and his thoughts were filled with despair. 'I'm useless to her now. There's nothing I can offer that she couldn't get better elsewhere.'

**26**

"Isn't this fun, Inu-no-niichan?" Souta asked as he jerked his body to the right, moving with his game character. "I don't know why you don't play these more often." Inuyasha just grunted in response, fuming at the screen as he pushed buttons randomly, unable to get his "man" to do what he wanted. Kikyou and Kagome were both obsessed with wedding stuff, so he found himself hiding in his brother-in-law's bedroom to avoid having his opinion asked and invariably criticized.

Souta whooped as the game announced his victory. He'd allowed his hair to grow out like Inuyasha's, though he kept it bound in the back, and his quicker aging left him greying, while Inuyasha's hair had only just become pure black. Standing up, Souta put his hands on his hips and leaned back, popping the crick in his back as he victoriously stared down at the grumbling Inuyasha. "So, you wanna play again?" he asked.

"I think I've had enough of this crap," Inuyasha replied.

"You sure? Or are you just excited to help pick out flowers for the wedding," Souta teased. A shrill noise from outside grabbed their attention, and they looked at each other in puzzlement. Souta shrugged, and Inuyasha started for the door when they heard it again, louder and clearer.

'That's Kagome's voice,' Inuyasha thought, and he called her name and vaulted down the stairs. He stumbled into the wall below and pushed off with both hands before sprinting through the living room and out the front door. Emerging into the wind-swept courtyard, he was greeted by the sight of Houjou, who was shaking Kagome like a rag doll.

"I don't care if you want to stay with that low-life freak. A real man doesn't take no for an answer," his old rival shouted in his wife's face as Kagome was dragged across the courtyard toward the steps.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Inuyasha shouted as he ran after them, and Houjou's head popped up to fix him with a malicious glare. The distraction was enough for Kagome to slip from his grasp and race toward the house. Houjou gave chase, reaching to grab her hair, but as his fingers brushed the first trailing strands, his gut met Inuyasha's lowered shoulder. Their uninvited guest rolled as he fell, quickly regaining his feet. Inuyasha, who'd stumbled to the ground at their collision, pushed himself onto all fours.

"So, you're so worthless you can't even stay a demon?" Houjou taunted as he slammed his foot into Inuyasha's side with a sharp crack, sending the hanyou-turned-human tumbling.

"Why are you doing this?" Kagome demanded from the safety of the doorway.

"You can't be trusted to make the right decision, so I'm making it for you," he shouted back, kicking the side of Inuyasha's face.

The world exploded into red for Inuyasha, and the shouting voices became muffled as pain overtook his senses. He struggled for breath, choking on warm liquid and what he hoped wasn't a piece of tooth as he struggled to rise. He felt his arm snap as it was struck with enough force to slide his entire body across the concrete. Kagome's horrified scream penetrated his brain, and his vision cleared in time to see the sole of Houjou's shoe ready to cave in his face.

With a sudden, shouted epithet, the foot was gone, and Inuyasha heard the hollow clatter of plastic hitting the pavement near his head. Looking over, he saw the broken remains of a video game controller, its wire trailing across his chest. 'Souta? Fuck. Now I've gotta save his ass, too,' he thought with gratitude.

Houjou had a palm over his eye and was cursing wildly. "Looks like your entire family is in my way, Kagome," he shouted, removing a long knife from the inside of his school uniform jacket as he turned his back on Inuyasha, intent on his new assailant. Before the outraged man could take a step, Inuyasha pulled his knees up to his chest, grimacing against the pain of broken ribs, and kicked his legs out as hard as he could, catching Houjou in the back of the knees. As his attacker went down, Inuyasha rolled and braced himself on his uninjured hand, managing to push onto his knees, then upright. As faced off with Houjou, who was already standing and brandishing his blade menacingly, he noticed for the first time that his rival's blue eyes were gone—replaced with ones radiating an eerie black.

"Kagome, take Souta and get inside. I'll take care of this," Inuyasha shouted, trying to catch a glimpse of her in his peripheral vision as he adopted a defensive stance.

"She's already gone, mutt. Didn't care enough to stay," Houjou chortled. "I don't think my woman should have to see the mess I'm going to make of you, anyway."

"In your dreams, asshole. I've beaten you before. I can do it again," Inuyasha boasted even as he backed away from his opponent's slow advance.

"But you had your special powers, then," Houjou mocked. "Now it appears you're unable to protect yourself, much less Kagome, so how about I exterminate you and take care of her myself?" Inuyasha darted back as Houjou lashed out with the knife, but wasn't fast enough, and the blade cut deeply into his broken arm. A sickening chunk, and the deflected arc of the blade indicated that the knife had hit bone; blood poured from the wound. Striking back while the momentum of the blade was carrying Houjou's body, Inuyasha drove the first of his uninjured arm into his opponents face, but outside of a wince and a curse, there was no effect.

Growling in pain, Houjou struck with the arm not holding his knife, shattering Inuyasha's nose, then followed with a sharp kick to his left leg, bending it backward to drop Inuyasha into a kneeling position. Houjou's angry sneer suddenly widened as a clawed hand tore four jagged streaks of red from mouth to ear. Swinging his elbow backward, Houjou caught his assailant in the stomach, then wheeled around to drive a fist into her right cheek, splitting his new attacker's lip but not pushing her back too far.

"Get away from my dad," Kikyou shouted, as the brown-haired man ducked under the next swipe of her claws.

Inuyasha tried again to get to his feet, but his left knee wouldn't hold, so he was once more forced to kneel. "Kikyou. Get out of here," he slurred wetly, blood spattering from his mouth in flecks.

"Hanyou spawn, eh," Houjou spat as he gave the young woman a lascivious smile. "You look enough like my woman that it's almost worth overlooking your filth. Just imagine how much and how hard I'm going to have to dig your mother out to unsully her, thanks to you."

Furious, Kikyou's ears flattened against her head, and the irises of her eyes flashed red. Arms outstretched, she lunged for Houjou's throat, claws flexed. "Kikyou, no!" Inuyasha shouted, but she was too far gone in her rage. She never saw the knife in her path. With Houjou's back to him, Inuyasha didn't see the blow, but the surprise and shock on his daughter's face were telling. With a whimper, her head drooped listlessly over Houjou's shoulder, and her arms fell to her sides. His heart broke as Houjou stepped back, letting Kikyou's body collapse to the ground. Inuyasha fought through the agony to get to his feet as Houjou fixed him with a triumphant grin.

"I'm glad you got to see that before I finish you. Abominations like you deserve all the sorrow you can get," he gloated. He took a step toward Inuyasha, but suddenly, the upper half of his body disappeared in an explosion of pink that filled the courtyard with a high-pitched scream. Inuyasha turned his head to see Kagome standing on the front step, bow in hand, staring as what was left of her school friend slumped to the ground with a squelching sound. The expression on her face held more hate and rage than Inuyasha had ever seen, even when facing Naraku, and he had but a moment to consider the wrongness of that particular contortion of her face before he remembered his daughter.

He limped toward her prone body as Kagome sprinted over, and both fell to her side simultaneously. To Inuyasha's shock, turning Kikyou over revealed a large, grey hole in their daughter's chest where the knife had penetrated. From the hole, cracks were appearing in the flesh as if it was made of pottery. There was no blood, but a thin film of dust could be seen blowing away from the edges.

"Oh...no," Kagome said, voice shaking as tears trickled down her face. "I couldn't to do anything. If only I had more power. If only I'd gotten here sooner."

"Don't cry," their daughter rasped out. "I've never seen you so sad. I don't want to see you this sad"

"I wasn't able to save you!" Inuyasha cried out in despair, his face wet with tears as well.

"You've always been there for me, Dad, and that's good enough," she replied. "Keep Mom safe."

"Don't leave us," he called out as Kagome buried her face in his bloody suikan and sobbed. Kikyou gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head and closed her eyes.

"Just remember, the people you love can look after you even when they're gone," she said softly, with the small, knowing smile of her namesake… and then she was gone. A cloud of dust and ash whispered into the breeze, swirling through the air past a lone crane that was perched on Goshinboku's lowest branch. Its call was mournful.

**27**

A cool wind blew over the shrine house, rattling the rusted antenna placed there decades ago. Thunderheads loomed on the horizon, leaving a sharp contrast between the last vestiges of sunlight to the west and the black sky to the east. As the full moon was blanketed by the impending storm, Inuyasha sighed from his resting point on the roof and slowly slid along the tiles to the rickety, wooden ladder placed against the side of the house. Kagome was too frail to join him there, so it was a place he could use when he needed some solitude. Wincing as some of his greying hair caught under his hands, he slowed his descent, finally dropping to the ground with a light slap of his feet.

Moving with a slight limp, he inspected the grounds, making sure everything was secure before the weather struck. 'Gotta replace the shutters, and the tile, and the stones in the courtyard,' he thought, running through a checklist of tasks the shrine required. It had fallen into disrepair, and a pallor of sadness seemed to loom over the structure and its occupants. Entering the house, he brushed off the front of his hakama absently, waiting in the entryway for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. His night vision was long gone, but he was still too proud to use the light. Navigating around the clutter on the floor, he made his way to the stairs. His steps, while soft, caused the boards to creak loudly as he approached the bedroom they shared. There he found Kagome propped up on pillows in bed, eyes straining as she read one of her schoolbooks in the low light from a bedside lamp. Her wrinkled face crinkled further in a smile as he walked in, and she set her book aside, scooting over slightly so he could join her. Climbing into bed, he reached over her to turn out the light and tucked her into his arms.

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance, but for a moment the skies opened enough to let a shaft of moonlight shine through their window. Inuyasha drew in a deep breath and gathered Kagome even closer to his side.

And he could smell her.

He pushed his face into her neck, snuffling like a puppy, and she giggled and squirmed in response. She couldn't see the look of relief and contentment on his face as he drew in the scent of the ingredients in her shampoo, soaps, and creams… her hair, and the distinctive human scent of Kagome. His human-grey hair, human ears, violet eyes, and lack of fangs or claws didn't matter at that moment, because his youki was still there and he could smell her. He could smell the two of them entwined together and it filled a hole in his soul he was unaware had formed.

It was only for a few moments. The sensation soon faded away, and he was left with the indistinct odor of shampoo, and the sound of rain and wind moving in. It was as if they were washing away the last vestiges of his demon heritage. He held her so tightly, he had to check his grip to make certain she could breathe, but he felt cold. Suppressing the hitching of his breath, he thought about…everything, staying in that position until her steady, deep breaths let him know she was asleep.

He slowly and methodically extricated himself from Kagome, slipping silently out of bed to go back outside. Wincing at every creak of the stairs, he padded his way down and out the front door. The rain and wind soaked his suikan as he stumbled in a zombie-like trance toward the decrepit well house. His left knee throbbed, partly from exertion and partly from the rain, and now partly from using it to smash the old lock that had been placed on the ancient structure's door. Moving inside, he proceeded until he could feel the lip of the well, and peered over its edge, though everything was indistinct blackness. Not even the occasional flash of lightning lit the inside of the well, and the wind just served to rattle the door against its runners in fury.

"Why did you do this to me?" he asked the well. "Was it tryin' to put the boulder in you? Was it the tree?" He banged his hand on the wooden frame, earning nothing but a new source of pain. "You win. I'm only half of myself now. The rest of me is somewhere on the other side of you. I'm the only demon to come through the well and survive for long, and I'm the only one to lose my power, so you must have done this. It always comes back to the well."

Pulling a rotting piece of wood off the side, he tossed it over the edge, listening for the sound of an impact. Any noise was drowned out by the storm outside, so he was forced to just sit and rage.

"I can't remember ever trying to go back," he muttered to himself. Addressing the well once again, he asked, "Why can't I remember ever trying to go back? There's magic in the past. There's magic in you. Why the fuck is there none for me?" With a grunt, he lifted one leg over the lip of the well, straddling it as he racked his brain for answers to his questions. He couldn't remember ever going back. 'Kagome said it was closed, so it must be closed. Wait, did she say it was closed? Why can't I remember something like that? Why can't I remember anything?'

Realizing there was a chance to get his youki back, he dragged his other leg over, preparing himself to plummet into the darkness below. 'If I don't pass through, I'm going to shatter this knee. Kagome's never gonna be able to get me out of here,' he mused, and leaned back, reconsidering his decision. 'If I had my youki, though, I'd heal immediately. I could protect Kagome like I can't now. She'll love it if I come back hanyou. She'll have the ears again, and we can work on keeping her with me.' He scooted back forward once again.

'If I come back hanyou,' he repeated in his mind. Even if he got through, there was no guarantee he'd be allowed to come back. He glared at the well through the darkness. 'Is this some kind of trick? You're trying to get me back into the past?' he thought.

He shook his head, "If I can't make it back, she'll be here alone. I can't leave her alone. I promised her I'd never leave her alone. You're not getting me this time, well," he gloated and removed himself from the edge. Walking back out of the well house, it sank in that he could have abandoned her. He sprinted into the house as best he could on his legs, bounding up the stairs and bursting into their bedroom to find she was still asleep in their bed. Quickly shucking his wet clothes, he climbed in, grabbing her tightly and awakening her.

"Inuyasha?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, craning his neck slightly to make sure his tears stayed off her. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

'This. This is all I have.'

**28**

The icy winter air made his joints throb. With a pained groan, Inuyasha set down on one of the boxes he was carrying from the decrepit shed and rotated his left arm in its socket, wincing at the cracking and popping in his shoulder as he did so. The sun was just a bright spot in the cloud cover overhead, and he stared directly at it, unblinking as he tracked its progress across the sky. Taking a break, he left the box and walked a circuitous route toward the house, stepping carefully to avoid the cracks and holes that had formed in the paved shrine grounds.

He stopped in front of the long steps, looking out at his surroundings. The city was an expanse of weathered buildings—ill-maintained, worn, and crumbling. Trees were barren and devoid of life, and everyone walked slowly and unsurely, as if a depressing malaise had settled over everything. In the distance, the skyline faded into a grey mist, giving the illusion that the shrine was the center of some cloudy glass cage, where everything inside was dying.

Reaching the house with his shuffled gait, Inuyasha ignored the shriek of protest from the front door as he struggled to keep it in its track. Inside, he assessed the decay of their living area with a sigh. The couch was rife with holes and loose threads, and clutter was strewn everywhere. A fine coating of dust had settled over everything, as if the place hadn't been lived in, and Inuyasha felt his heart twist as he wiped some of the grime off pictures of his family—he and Kagome holding Kikyou when she was young; one of him and the old geezer arguing; one of Kagome's family with him standing awkwardly to the side; and of all their friends in the past that Kagome had taken with her camera. Inuyasha wracked his brain to figure out what had happened to all of them, but his mind was fuzzy, and the memory wouldn't be recalled.

He stopped to examine himself in a mirror. '_I'm getting' my hair back'_ he thought with wry amusement as he noticed the grey seeping through his hair. The jokes kept him sane in the face of his loss and impending failure. In the kitchen, he flicked on a stove burner, only to find that it wouldn't light. Simply sighing, he moved to the next, until finally the fourth and final one lit. Grabbing a kettle, he turned on the water in the sink, letting the brown clear from the stream before filling the container. Seated at the kitchen table, he watched it until it boiled. Adding tea leaves, he gathered a tray and a pair of chipped porcelain cups before taking everything slowly up the stairs to their bedroom.

He paused at the door before going inside, drawing the shuddering breath that he always took before entering. Grimacing, he pushed into the room and tried his best to avert his eyes from the bed until he'd set the tray down on a small table near it. Lowering himself gently to sit at the very edge of the blankets, he finally regarded the woman he loved. It didn't take his demonic hearing to know that the shallow, wheezing breaths rattling from her lungs meant that her life was near its end. Not willing to wake her, he let the tea sit, choosing instead to gently stroke her arm as she slept. Her skin was almost translucent in places, with purple veins and age spots marring what used to be a creamy complexion. Dozens of lines creased her face, but he took some comfort from the fact that most were concentrated around the places she smiled. He reached up to brush some of her pure white hair out of her eyes, and she groaned softly, leaning into his warmth.

As always, little gestures like that brought him to tears. Using his other hand, he pulled a blanket up, tucking it around her more securely. He watched her breath for a while longer, then stood. Leaving the tea, he walked silently from the room, increasing his pace as he moved to the stairs. He sped up as he went down them, and by the time he passed through the living room and out the door, he was running as fast as he could go, heart pounding in his chest. He hit the door to the well house with his shoulder, smashing clear through the brittle lumber without slowing more than a fraction. His left leg collapsed under him as he bounded down the stairs to the well, and he slid to a stop in front of it, coughing as dust billowed around him.

'_This is it,' _Inuyasha thought. _'If this doesn't work, I'm gonna die at the bottom of this well, and she's gonna die alone in her bedroom. If this does work, maybe someone can help me. If I don't try, she's gonna die right in front of me any day now.' _Dragging himself onto the edge, he didn't need much time to make a decision. Looking out through the cracks in the well house wall, he ran his gaze over the dilapidated home his wife was in, knowing what he had to do. "Goodbye, Kagome. I love you," was carried on the wind as he disappeared into the darkness.

The odd sensation of falling upwards didn't take him when he hit the bottom, but neither did he feel his legs snap from the strain of impact. There was no blue stream filled with glowing lights, but there was a dull red glow unlike anything he was used to. One moment he was falling in a dark, musty well, and the next he was in a dark cavern of some sort that pulsated in a fleshlike manner. There was only a moment for confusion before the agony set in. Excruciating pain wracked his flesh, as if every bone in his body had been crushed and was being burned. He wished for unconsciousness, but the thought of Kagome drove him to press on. When he tried to move forward, Inuyasha realized he was restrained. A spongy protrusion wrapped tightly around his waist, holding him in place.

He brought his hands up to pull away the tentacle, but he couldn't get a grip on it. To his horror, he found that his fingers were shorter than he remembered, with no nails or claws. Both hands had been pared down to the first knuckle, blood and yellowish fluid still seeping from the wounds on the ends. Seeing the injury made him feel it, and he gritted his teeth against the pain—or would have if his teeth had not been removed as well. His eyes widened in surprise as his bleeding gums pressed against each other, spreading a metallic taste along what remained of his tongue. He ached everywhere, but he couldn't see the rest of his injuries. _'Is this hell?' _he thought. _'Am I dead at the base of the well?' _

Laughter echoed in the darkness, and a man stepped forward, grey spiked armor covering his chest and arms. His black hair and pale complexion contrasted strongly with his red gaze, and Inuyasha's rage boiled when he recognized the individual. "Naraku," he choked out, the consonants muffled by his inability to press his tongue against the back of his teeth.

"You're always surprised to see me when you wake up, Inuyasha. It never ceases to amuse me, though I wonder what horrors pass through your dreams if I'm not there," he smugly replied, his pseudo-regal voice echoing through the dark passage. "Do you watch your friends die by your hand? Does your brother kill you? Are you hated by everyone? Or is it enough to just relive the fact that you _lost_." The laughter intensified, and he moved to stand just out of arm's reach. Naraku looked into the distance at something beyond his captive's field of vision. "Tell me, Inuyasha," he said with a tired sigh. "What is it that keeps you breathing? Why do you fight to survive when everything good in your life has been destroyed by your weakness?"

Too confused by events and dazed with pain to focus on the question, Inuyasha weakly called out, "Where's Kagome?"

"Kagome!" Naraku roared in response. "She's smeared around my interior, Inuyasha, filleted by your own claws. Why do you always wake up forgetting that you _delighted_ in her murder?"

"Not dead," Inuyasha breathed in protest, causing Naraku to rub the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Byakuya, come here," he demanded, the fleshy ceiling of the corridor parting to reveal a wider, pulsating expanse above. Through this new opening floated a black-haired man on a paper crane. Dismounting, the incarnation tucked the diminished bird neatly into his vest and he gave Naraku a small bow. "What can I do for you?" he asked almost genuinely.

"Why is it that our guest here keeps waking up from his little naps confused?" Naraku asked.

"Shock, I'd assume," was the flippant response. "The constant torture has broken his mind." That answer earned a snort from Byakuya's master, who focused a suspicious, narrow-eyed gaze upon the illusion master.

"We will be discussing this later," Naraku said dismissively. "Go make certain nothing disrupts me while I make sure our charge survives his torment a little longer." His subordinate vanished so quickly it was almost as if he was a mirage.

Tentacles emerged from Naraku's body to wrap around Inuyasha's arms and legs, pulling them apart while their master inspected him with clinical detachment. "I see your injuries are barely healing at all now. Your _youki_ is abandoning you, Inuyasha. You couldn't move enough to kill yourself if you wanted, and I'm certainly not going to let you starve… not until the jewel is fully polluted." One of the tentacles probed at Inuyasha's mouth, but he refused to open it. Naraku simply shrugged, and reached for the top of Inuyasha's head. Screaming with pain, Inuyasha felt the flesh stretch around his right ear. When his mouth opened, the tentacle plunged inside, twining down his throat to pump a viscous, brakish fluid into his stomach. He tried to clamp down, but his toothless mouth couldn't do any damage to the appendage, and Naraku simply pulled harder. Moments later, the tentacle withdrew, and Naraku freed the ear, letting it hang limply, its controlling muscles no longer usable. Inuyasha gagged, trying to heave up the substance, but Naraku held Inuyasha's mouth closed, forcing it back down.

"Still hungry?" Naraku asked with mock concern as Inuyasha gasped for breath. "We're fresh out of the remains of your friends, but I think I have a couple more of your toes left if you need a snack." One tentacle formed a set of serrated pincers, clacking menacingly. Another reached up to wipe the corners of its victim's mouth with a green and white blood-stained cloth. The room seemed to darken further as Inuyasha looked first at it, then at his captor with desperation. "That's right, Inuyasha," Naraku continued. "Feed your despair to the jewel. There's no way you can escape. You're going to die here, alone and unloved, your life nothing but a footnote of failure in the annals of history."

Summing up all the defiance he could muster, Inuyasha spit at Naraku's feet, causing Naraku to strike out reflexively, catching him across the face with the spiked armor on the back of his hand, cutting into Inuyasha's cheek and leaving the room spinning. As his vision darkened, he heard Naraku cursing that his pet was unconscious again.

**29**

The sun was blood-red and big on the horizon, painting the western sky in warm but foreboding hues. To the east was darkness—no stars, no moon, no clouds, no light, just complete black, as if the world vanished at some unknown point. Powerful winds howled through the barren trees, bending them to the brink of snapping. Broken shutters slapped against the side of the house, and flecks of debris and swirls of dust swirled along the ground. The buildings around the shrine were rubble, most having collapsed, while others simply looked burned out. Even to Inuyasha's human senses, the air was stale and reeked of death.

Inuyasha gently set the book off to the side. He'd been holding it so Kagome could see it, as she still insisted she had tests to take. He knew she couldn't read a word of it, but she thought she could, and it made her happy to try. On the occasions when she had the energy to speak, it was nonsense about Kikyou's boyfriends or Sango's wedding or Sesshoumaru's favorite toenail polish. When she fell asleep against his shoulder, Inuyasha just sat there, savoring her closeness and trying to ignore the despair that crept up on him as the sun slowly fell to earth. Images tormented him—Miroku being consumed by the wind tunnel, Sango drowning as Naraku's flesh absorbed her, Kagome being shredded by his claws. He saw flashes of his own life—eating with Kagome's family, the birth of his daughter, protecting Kagome from that human boy and the costs. All that was left to him were these islands of memory, the rest having been eroded away into the void that resided in his mind.

The air grew suddenly colder, and Inuyasha picked up Kagome, tucking her frail body underneath his chin, her white hair mixing with his grey. She snuggled in, and he managed to give her a wan smile before leaning over her to make sure she wouldn't feel his tears. Their story was about to end. He was going to be alone again, in this decaying world. The well wouldn't save him. He didn't know why he knew that, but even looking at the well house filled him with such intense nausea and fear that he didn't even consider the possibility of approaching it. He had no demon power to protect him or anyone else from the ravages of age, and time had worn down her vibrancy… if not her love. That was still there, and it was the only thing that kept him from finding a way to end his own life.

Pulling back to examine her face closely, Inuyasha grinned at the memories it brought him. His motion brought his face over hers, and to his dismay, drops of moisture appeared on her face, awakening her. She looked up at him, and her mouth stretched into a sad smile. "Let's watch the sunset," she feebly said, her breath shaking on every word. _'Don't leave me,' _he thought. _'You'll be back with all our friends, but I'll have no one. I'll be all alone again. You can't leave.' _

He kept these thoughts unvoiced and nodded, lifting her with a small grunt. His long-gone demonic strength was unnecessary to carry the withered shell of his wife. Walking as smoothly as he could across the crumbling terrain, he struggled to the back of the shrine house to where a wooden swing hung on one of the hillside trees. Setting her gently on his lap, he rocked back and forth slowly as the sun disappeared, leaving nothing but dark blues and purples in the distance.

"I love you, Kagome. I love you more than anything," Inuyasha repeated over and over again as he gazed down at her weathered face, silently bargaining with whatever controlled his life to let her stay. He couldn't stop himself from shaking as he held her, and finally, he threw dignity away, openly pleading with for her not to leave. Her own eyes glistened with tears, and she reached up with one bony arm to place a hand lightly over his own.

"You've always done your best, Inuyasha. You tried as hard as you could, and that's all I could ever ask. I love you too, Inuyasha, and I need you to carry on," she said gravely.

"My best wasn't good enough," he mourned.

"Yes, it was," she wheezed. "And it is. Not getting everything you want isn't failure. You have to persist."

"Persist?" he asked, but her eyes were closed, and there was no answer. His heart stopped for a moment, but she drew another shuddering breath, and another. He held her even tighter and cried into her shoulder as he waited for that next breath not to come, praying the end wasn't as inevitable as it seemed, and he'd awaken from this nightmare.

**30 - Finale**

"I don't think waking up is going to solve your problem," spoke a rich tenor to Inuyasha's left. Turning his head quickly in surprise, he found a vest-clad, dark-haired man staring ahead at the twilight, holding a small paper crane in front of his face as if to block out the sun. Crushing the bird in his hand, he met Inuyasha's gaze. "She loves you more than should be possible, you know. She may be young, but her feelings are real. I never would have made it this far without her."

The pensive man was unrecognizable at first, but a corner of the veil covering Inuyasha's memory peeled away, and the name came to him. "Byakuya?" he whispered in astonishment. Setting Kagome gently on the swing, he stood with a grunt, adopting his best semblance of a protective stance. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"As scintillating a conversationalist as always, I see," Byakuya mused as he surveyed the darkening surroundings with a mixture of appreciation and concern. "Being that this is your mind, I expected it to be much smaller. I must say, though, that you've let it go to shit," he wryly observed.

"Naraku's dead. You have no business here, so get the fuck away from us. Killing a sorry bastard like you would be a waste of time, but if you come near Kagome, I'll make sure your head rolls across the grass like a _kemari_ ball," Inuyasha threatened.

The incarnation sighed and lifted his hands in a placating gesture. "I see we have some things to discuss." Byakuya's unguarded expression unsettled Inuyasha, for it showed an unexpected degree of sadness and resignation for someone who seemed to have the upper hand. "Time's running out, so we're going to have to make this quick."

The wind roared, leaving Inuyasha torn between standing his ground and sheltering Kagome from the cold. Shoulders slumping, he agreed. "Okay, let's talk." Removing his suikan, he draped it around Kagome's shivering form and resumed his place at her side. "What're you doin' here?"

"The good news is, I'm here to betray Naraku. The bad news is, I'm failing miserably," Byakuya admitted.

"Heh. It ain't any wonder you're having trouble. How're you supposed to betray a dead man?" Inuyasha asked, though he had a sickening premonition that he knew the answer.

"To begin with, he's not dead," the illusion master corrected, confirming every fear. "I suppose I'll have to explain everything from the beginning… using small words."

"Why don't you start with that crap about this being my mind?" Inuyasha interrupted.

"The beginning it is! I'm glad we're in agreement," Byakuya drawled. "Naraku always wanted the jewel for the sake of having the jewel. Despite the monumental effort he went through to claim it, that fool had no idea what he actually wanted to do with it. He's got it all figured out, though. He's settled on the same petty, grasping ambition everyone with a wish seems to reach. He's going to wish for more wishes."

"How's he gonna get more wishes from the thing?" Inuyasha asked.

"He's decided the skip the whole youkai thing entirely and wish to be a god," Byakuya answered matter-of-factly.

"Good luck gettin' the jewel to grant _that _wish."

"I don't know if the jewel can get him there, but it'll make its best effort when he tries it. There's a hitch, though. See, the jewel needs to be pure, otherwise it will distort the wish, twisting it against the wisher in some unforeseen and negative way. It's very easy to purify a jewel to light, but very hard to make a selfless wish. It's child's play to make a selfish wish, but ironically, it's really, _really_, hard to perfectly blacken the jewel."

The veil drew back a bit further, and Inuyasha recoiled at the vivid mental image of Naraku's sneering face. "Despair. He was yammerin' on about fillin' the jewel with despair," he frowned, confused by his conflicting memories.

"Exactly," Byakuya replied with a nod.

"That still doesn't explain that crap about this being my mind," Inuyasha growled, "and why would you even betray him? I ain't buying it."

"C'mon," Byakuya answered, the grin evident in his voice. "_All_ of Naraku's incarnations end up betraying him, given the opportunity. Our rebellion stems from his approach to creating a purely black jewel."

"Why's that?" Inuyasha asked as he pulled Kagome, shaking from the cold wind, into his arms.

"As much as the megalomaniac would like to deny it, there's always been a speck of light in him. While all humans are impure, none are completely evil. Even Naraku."

"Keh," snorted Inuyasha at the thought.

"So despite his best efforts, he's been trapped with that faint glimmer of Onigumo's humanity all along. See, Naraku keeps the best parts of his absorptions for himself, expels the worst, and shuffles the rest off to us 'children'. Since it's bound to his soul, he couldn't totally rid himself of the light, so he'd send it off for a while by passing it around to us, like some kind of disease. Kagura had it, then Moryomaru, then Kanna, and now me," Byakuya explained.

"You expect me to believe that you're good?" Inuyasha chuckled at the thought. "So far this bullshit's been a lot of fun, but you still haven't explained that mind crap."

"I was getting to that," chided Byakuya as he scanned the decaying environment. "This wasteland, Inuyasha, is your mind. I've been keeping an eye on you," Byakuya revealed.

"For how long?" Inuyasha countered suspiciously.

"Since the beginning."

"That ain't possible," he scoffed. "I'd have felt you or smelled you or even seen you if you were watching us."

"Who says you didn't?" shrugged the incarnation.

"I said I didn't. Just now. Start making sense or we'll commence with ripping your head off."

"We'll get to head-removal in a few minutes, Inuyasha. There's more to explain."

"Go on," Inuyasha snapped with rising impatience. "I'm growing old waitin' for your explanation. You better make it a fucking good one."

"You're asleep, moron," Byakuya retorted.

Inuyasha snorted. "I'm _asleep_? I'm asleep, and you're in my mind?"

Byakuya sighed once again. "This is not a new concept, you idiot. I'm sure you remember your misadventure with Goshinki? He could read the one thought you can keep in that thick skull of yours at a time. That was a talent granted him by Naraku. Akago, the infant, almost got that woman in your lap to start working for our side by rooting around in her subconscious. His ability was also courtesy of Naraku." At Inuyasha's stubborn expression, the illusion master's snapped with anger and frustration. "How you do think I manage to convince you all that my illusions are real? Naraku loves to fuck with your minds; add the power of the completed jewel into the mix, and I think even you can see the possibilities."

"Fine, asshole, you can be in my mind," Inuyasha conceded. "But _why _the fuck are you here?"

"Torturing you endlessly while you're awake isn't enough for our wannabe god. He ordered me to make your dreams as miserable as possible. Instead, I've been making them as good as possible."

"Dreams…" Inuyasha's mind skipped back over the only clear memories he had of his life with Kagome. "Are you tellin' me that _none_ of this has been real?"

"That's right," Byakuya admitted. "You see, right now, you're the only thing keeping the jewel from turning fully black."

"Me? How can I do that when I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about?"

"You and your friends are so tied to the jewel that we've reached a kind of impasse. The others were disposed of quickly, but Naraku has been waiting for you to succumb before he kills you. You're the only thing standing between him and godhood, but he can't end your life until the jewel is completely darkened by your despair, or it will remain in an impure state. He's really very annoyed with you."

"Wait just a fucking minute. I'm the only one alive?" Inuyasha asked angrily, pointing down at his lap. "Then who the fuck is this?"

"I have no idea what Kagome sees in you, I swear, but it's her that's made this all possible," Byakuya confessed.

"But… she's dead?" Inuyasha's voice cracked with emotion. The last bit of color on the horizon disappeared, covering everything in blackness. Only the weight of Kagome in his lap let him know he wasn't simply floating in space.

The incarnation spoke slowly. "You tore her apart with your own claws, Inuyasha. Shredded her into chunks of flesh as she did nothing but scream for you to come back and that she loved you. Even after that, she's stayed by your side. Her complete soul has been blocking the total corruption of the jewel, and letting me know what to do to keep you happy. Outside of you, she was the most real thing here," he explained.

"Why did you wait so long to show up?"

"It's been exactly thirty days, and I didn't have the power to manifest entirely until now. The jewel's been getting darker, so Naraku's gaining power. Fortunately, as he gets stronger, I get stronger. Of course, that also means he's going to be a god soon and could decide to absorb me right back up hisass, so shut up and listen to me!" There was a moment of silence as Byakuya caught his breath after that tirade.

"You gonna finish?" Inuyasha asked from the darkness, and Byakuya growled in response.

"_This_ has all been a delay tactic, so I could figure out a way to avoid spending eternity as that egotistical asshole's bitch. As long as you had a copasetic place to escape from Naraku, you wouldn't descend into complete despair, and I had time to plan," Byakuya explained.

"So, is there actually a plan?"

"Yes, there's a fucking plan. You're trying as hard as you can to push the good right out of me, aren't you?" Byakuya asked, sarcasm dripping. "The problem is, you're going to need help from someone far better than me, and in order to get that help, you're going to have to set me free from Naraku."

"So who's supposed to help?" Inuyasha asked.

"She's laying across your lap," Byakuya answered.

"I thought you said this wasn't the real Kagome."

"You have no grasp of subtlety, do you. None. Kagome is supposed to help us. Kagome, who is stuck in the jewel, but has been manipulating that form on your lap, is supposed to help us. Why could Naraku have not left the monk alive?" Byakuya complained.

"What do you want me to do?" Inuyasha asked darkly.

"Kagura, Kanna, Hakudoshi, and I…we all wanted to be free, but we wanted to be free for ourselves. If I had a choice, I'd still choose that, but unfortunately there's only one option left. Like all of them, it's my turn to be sacrificed."

"So… what do you want _me_ to do?" Inuyasha repeated, unenlightened.

"I want you to make me a cup of hot tea and tell me a bedtime story," was the cynical response. "I _need_ you to kill me."

"How the fuck is that gonna get Kagome to help us?" Inuyasha asked incredulously.

"If you kill me in here, I'll die out there, and my bit of light will be reabsorbed back into Naraku until he casts it out again. Kagome can then use that speck and his closer connection to the jewel to get here," Byakuya explained, beginning to sound unsure of himself.

"That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. You just want me to kill you so you won't have to serve Naraku," Inuyasha accused.

"No. Well, yes. Hey, it's the monk's plan. I don't understand the details, but he assures me it'll work."

"Miroku came up with that?"

"They're all there with Kagome, trying to fight off the darkness. So, hurry up and kill me," Byakuya demanded.

"This's somethin' I think I can handle," Inuyasha said gruffly. Gently setting Kagome down, he felt his way over to where Byakuya was standing, patting his way up the incarnation's body until he could grasp either side of his neck.

Inuyasha hesitated. "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

There was no sarcastic banter or rude remark in reply. "This is what has to be done. If I don't persist in this, I'm going to spend an eternity suffering." Inuyasha nodded and squeezed as hard as he could, but the tendons in the demon's neck didn't give way. Twisting with all his might didn't yield any kind of result, either. Drawing his fist back, he punched Byakuya in the face, but only succeeded in splitting the skin on his own knuckles. "I should have known something absolutely stupid like this would happen. Oh, that's right… I _did_," the illusion master revealed with a longsuffering sigh.

Stepping out of Inuyasha's grip, he pulled a blade from his back. A dim, pale light ignited in his hands as he held up a black sword containing a Meidou. The corona outlining the weapon provided enough illumination to show both of their faces, but there was no accompanying warmth; in fact, the temperature continued to fall. "What's this," Inuyasha asked as he eyed the hilt that was held just out of his reach.

"This…is my greatest illusion ever. The grand finale, if you will. I stole the Meidou from you. It's your technique, in your mind, in an illusion I control. This has to work, because if it doesn't, we're totally screwed."

Transferring the hilt into Inuyasha's palm, the sword flashed to light, glowing brighter and brighter until the swing and the tree and the grass could again be seen in the ghostly light emanating from the blade. Suddenly, with a comforting feeling that Inuyasha thought had been lost to him forever, the sword transformed, elongating into a giant curved fang.

Byakuya flinched as the near-human brought it across his neck at full strength. The moment the blade passed through, he burst out of existence as if he'd never been created. Darkness closed around Inuyasha once again, and the small universe he and Kagome were in began to collapse. He quickly lunged for the swing and grabbed her as everything twisted, and his heart wrenched with the disappointment of his failure.

Then, the world bust into the color.

The sun erupted from the western horizon as if time was being rolled back, burning red, then yellow, and then pure white. Everything was saturated with brightness until finally there was nothing but Inuyasha and Kagome in a universe of light. Suddenly, he could hear her strengthened heartbeat and smell her natural scent. His clawed hand touched the smooth skin of his face and brushed unruly silver hair out of his eyes, running over a furry ear as he did so. A gold-hued gaze settled upon Kagome's now-youthful form, and she graced him with a small, almost coy, smile. "You're here," he gasped, stepping away from her.

"I've always been here, Inuyasha. I love you too much to leave you alone," she reassured him, moving toward him, but he continued to retreat.

"I'm so sorry, Kagome," he choked out, voice shaking. "I couldn't protect you, even from myself."

"I died loving you," she replied without recrimination. "Everyone else knew I hoped you loved me in return, and would tell me how kind and forgiving I was to never give up on you. After seeing what's really in your heart, Inuyasha, _I'm_ the one awed by _your_ purity."

He stopped his retreat, but refused to meet her eyes. "Feh. Some purity if I couldn't stop myself from clawing you into ribbons. I'm the worst of all of you!" Kagome approached him slowly, and with one hand raised his chin so he met her eyes.

"That's what Naraku thought, which is why he hasn't won yet, Inuyasha."

"How can you forgive me for everything?" he whispered.

"How could I not? You did the best you could, Inuyasha. You gave it everything you had, and I can't ask for more," she said softly.

"It wasn't good enough," he struggled to choke out.

"Winning doesn't necessarily mean getting everything you want. My faith in you has always been safe. You endured a seeming lifetime of misery for me. I couldn't love _anyone_ more," she replied.

"So you'll stay with me?" he asked.

"Always," she said with a smile as she placed her hands on his chest.

His eyes burned with tears, his throat clenched, and there were no more words he could say. Instead, he simply tightened his embrace, and whispered in her ear, "I love you, Kagome."

"I know." The tingling sensation from her hands became a sharp burning and then faded to a feeling of being submerged in warmth. The despair and the doubt that had clouded his spirit faded away, descending into contentment as the darkness was pushed back with a bright flash of light, and then they were gone…together.

--

Naraku chuckled as the battered and broken body of the hanyou in front of him shuddered once before growing still. _'Byakuya should be here for this.' _With a triumphant grin on his face, the victor twirled the jewel in his hands, feeling its dark power thrum through his body. Closing his eyes to savor the moment, he made his wish, laughing with almost childlike delight as he awaited its granting. He turned his gaze back on the jewel to admire the flawless black surface, gleaming darkly in the reflected light, and reveled in the wind whipping around him as the jewel pulsated. _'Wait… There is no light in here to reflect,' _he mused. _'There __can't__ be light.' _His eyes widened in horror as pink swirled into the jewel, and his wish twisted reality.

**Acknowledgements: **

_Forthright_ went above and beyond the call of duty for a normal beta, going through the fic line by line finding not only my veritable cornucopia of grammatical mishaps, but also instances where I'd used the same word four times in a paragraph, contradicted myself, used an expression that doesn't actually exist, or completely made up something about Inuyasha that wasn't true. Then, after spending literally 40+ hours slogging through it, she opted to do it again in a 10+ hour marathon to find all the mistakes I'd made editing from her first round of suggestions.

Any em-dash you see is from her hard work. Her stories epitomize an attention to detail and the use of precise, descriptive language so if you'd like to see English put to work for the cause of adorability, I highly recommend them.

_Quillwing717_ was my sounding board for much of the original idea, and bashed me over the head for using "alright" instead of "all right." She struck down dozens of passive voice verbs, and helped me tighten the prose from my usual academic ramblings. Her stories are all exciting, with excellent flow, and I'm thrilled that she contributed her talent to my cause.

_Fenikkusuken_ batted clean-up, giving the document a final check before I posted it. She made sure that it wasn't a series of small stupid errors that were responsible for ruining enjoyment of the story, and for that I'm grateful. Her work, which includes the 700,000+ word Phoenix Blade: Time Lapse, shows impressive dedication and a singular ability to keep track of a convoluted plot. You should find all of her fics to be very enjoyable.

I'd also like to thank _InuGrrrl_, _Demonlordlover_, and _JenerikBrand_ for reading through to let me know what about the story was confusing.

If you enjoyed the story, these ladies are responsible. You would not have without their help. If you didn't enjoy it, that's my fault. There's only so much they can do.

**Endnotes: **

Personally, I recommend making up your own interpretation of what happened in the story, but for people who want to know what the hell I was thinking, I'll answer the question that seems to come up the most.

Everything was so strange in the modern era because Inuyasha was dreaming it in a subconscious environment that was being manipulated by the jewel, Kagome, and Byakuya. Outside of Kagome's limited influence, Inuyasha couldn't learn anything new, so everything was based on his "best guess" of what the world was like, as it were, hence Kagome always going to school, Souta always playing video games, and convenience store owners being able to do anything and everything. In the anime, Inuyasha and Houjou had next to no interaction, and in the manga even less, so Houjou's personality was romantic rival (Kouga) + how he expects humans to treat hanyou (bad) + the negative influence of the jewel, which grew as the story progressed.

Apparently one of the more violent scenes is pretty close to something from the movie Saw. I've never seen it, but I think that's great. That movie made a metric ton of money, so my ideas must be marketable!


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